Devils' High School
by PayingInNaivety
Summary: Dante, Vergil, and Nero were orphans until they were taken in by the headmistress of the prestigious Westbrook School. The only catch to this generosity is they must keep their demon sides a secret, which turns out to be more of a challenge than expected.
1. Chapter 1

Vergil stepped out of the black car and into the cold, wintry air outside, the harsh wind causing his eyes to water slightly. He wrapped his arms around himself to keep warm as he took in the sight of Westbrook School - his new home. A soft sigh escaped his lips, coming out as a puff due to the cold. The young boy turned back to the car when his brother didn't join him on the outside. Vergil frowned and peeked back into the car, seeing his twin still hugging his knees as he had been for the whole trip. "Come on, Dante. You need to get out of the car now."

The younger twin just glared at his older brother, his arms tightening around his legs. "No. I wanna go home. I hate it here."

"Dante, we can't go home no matter how much we want to. Mother wanted us here. It said so in her will," reasoned Vergil, trying to sound as soothing as possible, despite his annoyance. Ever since the demons attacked and killed their mother, Vergil had taken up the responsibilty of looking after his brother. Even though he was only eight and couldn't do too much, he had promised himself to do the best he could.

After glancing pleadingly at the driver and receiving a silent head shake, Dante finally gave in and scooted across the seats and out of the car. He clutched his red coat close to his body, a scowl set on his face. The twins made their way to the trunk of the vehicle, where their driver was pulling out their luggage. Baggage in hand, Dante and Vergil bid their driver goodbye for the last time and quickly trekked up to the entrance of the school where a tall, stern looking woman was standing. Her black hair was pulled back into an extremely tight bun without a single stray hair, even in the howling wind. She wore a long, tan winter coat over her clothes and black gloves on her hands to protect her from the chill.

"Welcome to Westbrook," the woman said as Dante and Vergil approached, her tone crisp and professional. The boy in red glanced back at the road behind them discretely, wanting to just run back to the car and ride on top of it if he had to. Unfortunately, the road was empty now except for a few fallen leaves blowing across it in the wind.

Vergil managed a polite smile. "Are you Headmistress Violet Connoly?" he asked, recalling her name from the numerous meetings that took place to decide where he and Dante would live until they were eighteen.

The woman's steady gaze rested on Vergil first, then shifted to his twin, who was scowling at the ground just a few feet behind him. Once she had gotten a good look at the silver-haired twins, she replied, "I am. Please follow me to my office." With that, she turned on her heel and entered the building.

Dante and Vergil followed her inside, dragging their bags along behind them. They found the headmistress had stopped in the entrance hall and was conversing with a short, balding man with terrible posture. It was easy to see that the man was not at all thrilled about whatever the woman was telling him.

The two adults walked back over to the twins, the man with a bitter expression on his face. "This is Mr. Weitzman. He is one of the janitors of the school and will take your bags up to your dorm," Headmistress Connoly informed her newest charges.

Both Dante and Vergil gave the man a suspicious look before relinquishing their bags to the janitor. The boys watched as Mr. Weitzman lumbered up the staircase that was in the middle of the room. Once the janitor was gone, the headmistress nodded to them and turned to her left, signalling to the boys that they should follow. Dante stared at his brother, his ice blue eyes begging Vergil to just slip back out the door with him and bolt. The eldest twin just shot his sibling a disapproving glare before sliding an arm through his and dragging him through the door in which the headmistress had just disappeared.

The twins entered the office, neither of them surprised at how organized it seemed. The room was circular with a few perfectly placed paintings on the walls. Toward the back in front of a large, rectangular window with deep red drapes, sat a perfectly arranged oak desk, everything on top of it seeming to be strategically placed. Small bookshelves accomodated each side of the desk against the wall, several books crammed onto its shelves.

"Have a seat, please," Headmistress Connoly stated, her voice slightly less formal than it had been so far. She had removed her coat and was wearing a dark blue skirt suit with a white blouse underneath. As soon as the boys had sat down in the two chairs in front of her desk, the headmistress also took a seat in her high-backed chair. "Well, first I wish to say that I'm sorry to hear about your loss and we will do everything in our power to make you feel at home here."

Dante's eyes darkened and he opened his mouth to make a snippy retort, but Vergil shot him a frosty glare that could have frozen his brother to his seat. The boy in red closed his mouth quickly and averted his gaze to the carpeted floor. Satisfied with his brother's silence, Vergil smiled politely at the headmistress. "Thank you. We _both _appreciate your sentiments."

A small smile made its way to the woman's lips; she hadn't expected an eight year old to have a vocabulary like that or act so mature. She had a feeling that she wasn't going to have any problems with Vergil, but she couldn't be sure about Dante. Dismissing any assumptions she had about the red-clad twin due to the fact he was probably upset about losing a parent, she said, "You're welcome. Anyway, the reason you both are here is because your mother and I were friends when we attended school here and, she asked me to take you both in should anything happen to her."

"This is stupid," Dante murmured, tilting his head back to stare at the ceiling through his silver bangs. With a bit more volume and a hint of bitterness in his voice, he added, "I don't see why you're doing this lady. Once you find out what we are, you'll just toss us out onto the street anyway."

"If it's your demon heritage you speak of, I already know all about that, Dante," the headmistress replied shortly. "Which brings me to my next point. As long as you are staying here, it is absolutely imperative that you keep this a secret. There's no telling how the student body and their parents would react to that. While I have been assured and believe you two are harmless, a parent may not be so easy to convince."

Vergil nodded in agreement. The gazes of both the headmistress and the elder half devil fell on Dante when he didn't show any sign of assentment, or even if he'd heard what the woman had said. Feeling their eyes burning holes into him, the younger twin finally rolled his eyes and gave a slight nod.

After standing up from behind her desk and smoothing out her skirt, Headmistress Connoly moved to the front of her desk. "Right. Now, shall we head to your dorm to meet your room mate?"

Dante and Vergil shared a befuddled look at the mention of a room mate before standing and following their headmistress out. They were led through countless hallways and up several flights of stairs before finally reaching their destination. The twins waited at the foot of some stairs that led to a door while Headmistress Connoly rapped on the door. After a few seconds, the door opened, and the woman beckoned for the twins to join her in their new room.

The room was rather large and was well-kept. The only furniture that filled the room were three twin-sized beds with a night stand near each one. Three dressers also lined the the right wall. There was a door that presumably led to a closet in the far left corner and a window on the back wall that gave a superb view of the grounds.

"Well boys," the headmistress began, ushering them further into the room rather than standing in the doorway, "this is where you'll be sleeping for the duration of your stay here." She then directed their attention to the white haired boy who was sat on the right-most bed. His eyes were light blue, much like Dante's and Vergil's, but he looked to be a few years younger than them. But, what was most fascinating about the boy was his right arm: the skin was glowing a soft blue and was covered by what looked like red armor. "This is Nero. He will also being staying in this room with you."

Before anyone could say or do anything else, Dante had practically leapt across the room at Nero and grabbed his arm. "Whoa, cool!" exclaimed the red half demon as if he had just received a new toy. "Does it do anything?"

Nero, whose eyes had widened to about three times their normal size at Dante's attack on his devil bringer, yanked his arm out of the boy's grip and hid it behind his back. "I- I don't know," he answered timidly, moving as far away from Dante as possible whilst remaining on his bed. If there was anything he was self-conscious about, it was easily his demonic arm.

With a sigh of exasperation, Vergil pulled his brother off of Nero's bed and sat him on the middle bed. "Stop being so insensitive, you idiot."

"There you go being bossy again..." growled Dante as he pulled his red coat from his torso.

Noticing that Vergil was about to yell at his brother, thus prolonging the argument, the woman still standing in the doorway spoke again. "Before I let you three get to know each other, I have one last thing to tell you. Since we operate on a high school level, obviously eight year olds wouldn't be able to attend the regular classes. So, until you are old enough, I will be teaching you everything you need to know as I have done with Nero for the past few weeks."

"Okay, thank you headmistress," the blue devil said loudly before Dante could protest.

The woman smiled slightly before turning and leaving the room, closing the door behind her. The room fell into silence, save for the sound of Vergil removing his own blue coat and sitting down on his bed. Feeling awkward, Dante finally piped up. "So...Nero. How old are you?"

"Six," the youngest replied shyly, still hiding his arm behind his back. Finding it weird that his new room mates weren't treating him like a freak, he decided to ask a question of his own. "Why didn't you get scared when you saw my arm? People normally do..."

"Let's just say we've seen things like that," said Vergil as he dug one of his favorite books from one of his bags. "We're half demons."

Nero's eyes grew again. "I thought I was the only one like this." Grinning, he returned his devil bringer to his side, not feeling ashamed of it anymore. "So do you guys have super powers or something?"

Dante leaned back so he was lying down with a smug smile, placing his hands behind his head. "Well, we do heal really fast. Me and Vergil were fighting one day and I pushed him. He hit his head on the corner of the table and started bleeding. Mom starting freaking out when she saw he was bleeding but then the cut healed up a few minutes later. We tested it on me before we went to sleep one night and the same thing happened."

"Wow that's so cool." Nero's expression suddenly became thoughtful. "Do you think it's the same with me?"

The eldest devil glanced up from his book and narrowed his eyes at his younger room mates. "If you're going to test that theory, let it happen naturally. Don't let Dante help you."

Nero agreed to these terms, but Dante of course was less than pleased. "Aw, c'mon. The most I would do is bite him hard enough to make him bleed or stab him with my fork at dinner..."

"No." As if to show that that was the end of the matter, Vergil buried his nose in his book again.

With a groan, Dante stared up at the ceiling. "You're going to make this whole thing so boring for me, aren't you?"

"If by that you mean making sure you don't get us kicked out, yes, I am." Vergil snapped his book shut and set it on the bedside table between his and Dante's beds. He then stood up and smiled a little at Nero. "Can you show us around?"

Extremely excited that he had someone around here his own age, Nero nodded quickly and hopped off his bed. He grabbed his sling that he had hung from the edge of his headboard and slipped it over his devil bringer. When the twins both gave him questioning looks, he said, "I have to keep this hidden so I don't scare people." He moved to the door and pulled it open, grinning widely. "Let's go!"

Vergil joined the younger boy at the door and glanced back at his twin. "You heard him, Dante. Let's go."

Even though he knew getting a tour of his new home would be a lot more entertaining than lying on his bed and counting the dots on the ceiling, Dante let out an annoyed sigh and stood up. "Fine. But only because I don't want to get lost in this place." Vergil and Nero just rolled their eyes at this, and the three exited the room.


	2. Chapter 2

"Dante, this is your third F this week," Mr. Grayson, Westbrook's history teacher, scolded the sixteen year old as he shoved the young man's feet from the desk for the umpteenth time that lesson. The instructor placed the latest exam on Dante's desk. "And keep your feet off the desk. If I have to tell you one more time, it's detention."

Dante merely rolled his eyes at the threat, too used to being placed in detention to really care. Instead, the half devil addressed the issue of his less than exemplary grades. "Well, if you'd make things more interesting rather than rambling on and boring us all to tears, maybe I'd be more inclined to pay attention." A tiny smirk found it's way to Dante's lips as some of his classmates snickered.

A few seats in front of the troublemaker sat his older brother, Vergil, who was nowhere near as amused as the rest of the class seemed to be. Being a prefect, it was his job to make sure the rest of the students obeyed the rules - better known as "keeping his younger brother in line." Turning around in his seat to face his twin, Vergil sent a glare Dante's way that would make Medusa cringe.

Mr. Grayson just sighed softly, knowing that arguing with Dante at this point would be completely useless. He turned to take his place back in front of the class. Once there, he said, "If your grades continue like this, I will have no choice but to take action and assign Vergil to tutor you."

This definitely got Dante's attention. Spending time with Vergil outside of class and the dorm was the [i]last[/i] thing he wanted, and he knew Vergil shared this concern. The twins preferred not to spend much more time than they were forced to together; whatever free time they came by was usually spent as far away from the other as possible. The two didn't hate each other more than siblings normally do, but they're sibling rivalry always seemed to ignite some sparks.

The remainder of the class dragged on without any other technicalities, since Dante was making a half-assed effort at paying attention. Once the bell rang, the students made a mad dash for the door. Vergil stood after gathering his materials and rushed out the door, weaving through the crowd to catch up to Dante. His silver-haired double came into view after a few seconds and Vergil caught him by the arm before Dante could turn the corner. The younger of the two growled at being grabbed and wheeled around to face his twin. "This couldn't wait 'til we got to our room?"

"No," Vergil replied shortly, narrowing his eyes slightly. "You better start getting those grades up. I do [i]not[/i] want to have to tutor you."

The younger half human just waved his brother off. "Trust me. I have no intention of letting that happen. I get enough of you as it is." After yanking his arm from Vergil's grip, Dante began making the trek back up to their dorm.

Vergil sighed in annoyance, then followed his brother. The eldest twin glimpsed his brother untucking the white button up they had to wear under the navy blue blazer of the school uniform from his khaki pants. "Dante, you know the rules concerning your uniform," he mumbled irritably.

"At least I bothered to tuck it in at all today," replied Dante with a grin. "Besides, classes are over. The fact that we have to stay in these damn uniforms until after dinner is fucking stupid."

Before Vergil could argue with Dante, the sound of their names being shouted from down an adjoining corridor made them both turn toward the voice. A boy with similar silver hair and ice blue eyes was making his way toward the twins. His right arm was in a sling, but not because it was broken. The sling was the method the headmistress had chosen to hide the boy's demonic arm. Even though now he was usually always in the uniform which included a long-sleeved jacket, she still insisted he wear it at least in the warmer months since wearing a t-shirt on the weekends was more preferable. She had reasoned that this would also keep some of the unneeded questions at bay.

"Hello Nero," Vergil greeted his and Dante's room mate with a slight smile. "Have a good day?"

The youngest part devil shrugged. "It was alright. Pretty much the same as every other day." He glanced over at Dante, who had been completely silent since Nero joined the twins, which was out of character for him; normally the middle demon would have made some snide comment by now. "What's wrong with you Dante? You're being much quieter than usual."

Dante scoffed and rolled his eyes. "I'm on grade watch." The youngest of the three arched a silver eyebrow as they rounded another corner. With obvious annoyance in his tone, Dante added, "Basically, if I don't decide to get my ass into gear when it comes to my grades, Vergil here will have the honor of tutoring me."

"Did they finally figure out that putting you in detention just wasn't enough anymore?" Nero asked chuckling softly. "I guess the only threat that works on the great Dante is telling him he has to spend time with his brother."

With a growl, Dante placed a hand on Nero's shoulder and shoved the fourteen year old into a statue of the school's founder. The statue wobbled, threatening to topple over at any second. However, Vergil dashed with great agility across the hall and held the man made of stone still. Once he was sure the statue wasn't going to fall, the prefect gripped Nero's forearm and hoisted him to his feet from the tiled floor. He narrowed his eyes at his room mates. "That's enough you two."

Dante just smirked a little at his twin. Nero, however, was steamed about being shoved like that. He huffed and mumbled, "Asshole," under his breath. Without another word, the three half demons continued their tedious walk up to their dorm.

The three reached the last flight of stairs that led to their floor, but before they could climb them, a voice yelled out from behind them. "Well, if it isn't the dumbass, the goody two shoes, and the klutz who regularly breaks his arm. I hate to break it to you, but the freak show left town weeks ago."

Dante, Vergil, and Nero grimmaced simultaneously as they faced the teen who had insulted them, none of them surprised when they saw who it was. It was Ty Lowden and his two cronies William Ausley and Alphonso Hickerson. Ty had been holding a grudge on Dante and Vergil ever since the twins began formal classes. The grudge was petty in the grand scheme of things; Ty simply despised the half demon twins for beating him and one of his buddies in the finals of a dodgeball tournament in a PE class. Ever since, the tall brunette had attempted to make the boys' school life hell, poor Nero being dragged into the mix because they all shared a room.

"You better watch who you call a dumbass, Ty," Dante growled menacingly, taking a step toward the challengers. "I'm sure you remember what happened last time you tried to pick a fight with me."

Ty had to force himself not to wince or reach up for his nose. The last time Dante spoke of had landed Ty a broken nose. Smiling mischeiviously, the brunette responded, "It was a lucky shot and you and I both know it. And, if I remember correctly, you had to clean every bathroom in the school for a month after that."

The eldest of the three devils had to seize the back of Dante's blazer in order to keep him from mauling his classmate, even though Vergil knew full well he would deserve it. Dante always came back from those detentions raving about how Ty and his crew had intentionally dirtied some of the bathrooms for him. Unfortunately, the prefect was never able to catch them in the act so could do nothing about it. "Go to your dorm, or Headmistress Connoly will be hearing that you three are picking fights again. I'm sure she won't be pleased after telling you guys to cut it out a million times already."

Surprisingly, Ty, William, and Alphonso actually seemed threatened by Vergil's warning because they sneered at him, then turned to leave again. Before the three were out of earshot, however, Ty could be heard saying, "Fucking wuss. Always running off to the headmistress..." William and Alphonso sniggered before they disappeared from the boys' sight.

A low growl escaped Dante's lip again as he straightened his jacket out some. "Damn it Vergil. Can't you just let us show them who they're messing with just once?" He turned to Nero, who had preferred watching the exchange almost hiding behind Vergil, and smirked. "I'm sure even the kid wouldn't mind getting in on the action."

Before Vergil could respond, the youngest of the three snarled, "Stop calling me kid! And I'm sick of you picking on me!" and stormed up the stairs away from his room mates.

Dante merely chuckled at Nero's outburst. "I love getting him all fired up like that."

Vergil gave his twin a severe look before smacking him over the back of the head. "You really need to stop calling him a kid. He's only two years younger than us and you wouldn't like it if someone was constantly calling you a kid." The twins turned and began climbing the stairs after their room mate. "And to answer your question, no, I can't. It could put our secret in jeopardy"

Scowling, the middle half demon stayed silent, knowing that Vergil's tone entailed that was the end of the matter whether he liked it or not. But what he wouldn't give just to show them who was boss.

The white-haired twins reached the set of stairs that led to their door. As they ascended them, Vergil muttered, "Apologize to Nero."

"What? No! I'm not-" But before Dante could finish his statement, Vergil had pushed the door open and shoved his brother inside. The youngest of the trio was sat cross-legged on his bed, glaring down at his math textbook and pretending to be studying. His sling was hanging on his headboard, and it was plain to see that the claws of his devil bringer digging into the back cover of the book.

Dante rubbed the back of his neck, knowing he may have pushed Nero a little too far this time, considering he had never seen him so pissed before. He shrugged off his uniform jacket and tossed it onto his bed. "Look ki-" Vergil and Nero both sent Dante a death glare. "Nero. I'm sorry," he finished in a rush before plopping down on his bed and hiding behind one of his pornos.

Glancing at Vergil, Nero saw that the eldest part human was just as unsatisfied with that apology as he was and decided to push it, figuring he had Vergil's full support. "Well, if that's true, then you should have no problem finishing this math assignment for me." Vergil sent him a small smile as he too shrugged his blazer off.

"You've got to be kidding," snorted Dante, not looking up from his magazine. "I'm already behi-"

"You're doing it, Dante. Maybe this will teach you not to take advantage of Nero."

After seeing the serious look Vergil wore and the smirk Nero was giving, Dante knew he had been defeated. "You both suck, you know that?" He tossed his magazine onto his bedside table and stood. Dante yanked the book from Nero's grip and stole his pencil before returning to his own bed.

Nero and Vergil exchanged satisfied looks before engaging in their own activities until it was time for them to make the trip back to the main floor for dinner.


	3. Chapter 3

theUndertakerx: (I know this was for chapter one but I forgot to do this last chapter .) XD Yeah, I really liked writing Dante's attack on Nero's arm. I could just see him doing that for some reason. As far as their maturity level there, I purposefully made Vergil really mature for an eight year old since he's like taking care of Dante and stuff...plus I'm bad at dumbing it down enough sometimes lol. But thanks for the review! :3

bitbyboth: XD yeah I don't think I'd want Dante doing my homework either. But Nero probably just didn't want to do it himself. As for the jock, I'm sure they'll probably get what's coming to them ;D. I'm so glad you like the story! I honestly wasn't sure how well this idea would go over, but I'm glad I was able to get someone to read it who normally wouldn't! Thanks for the review!

noiroux: That review was a definite confidence booster. I'm glad I was able to capture their personalities well. I was a little surprised at how easy it was after I started writing xD. Thanks for reviewing!

Alright! So here's chapter three! Sorry, it's a bit on the short side, but at least it's done! And while I'm rambling up here, unfortunately I'm not sure how regular these updates will be, considering all the homework I seem to be getting this year. But I will do my best to update whenever I get the chance and inspiration! ^_^

Soooooooooooooooo...enjoy! ;P

* * *

Saturday morning dawned overcast and gray, rain threatening to fall at any second. The half devils of Westbrook school's mood were just as dismal as the weather. Especially in the warmer months, weekends meant spending time outside, rather than cooped up in the school building as they are during the week. Even Vergil welcomed the option to spend time outside in the fresh air, even though he usually only read or studied while Dante and Nero squirreled around.

Most annoyed of the three was easily Dante. Besides going downstairs for breakfast and lunch, Dante had been sat on the windowsill with his forehead pressed to the glass willing the rain to cease with his mind. He growled at the falling droplets for the millionth time that day.

Vergil and Nero both exchanged exasperated looks before Vergil closed his book and said, "Dante, stop growling and sighing at the rain. It doesn't care that you can't go outside because of it, and you're annoying me and Nero."

Dante just shot his brother a glare, then turned his attention back to the gloomy ouside world. He banged his head on the pane of glass repeatedly, dull thudding sounds filling the otherwise silent room. Vergil just rolled his eyes and reopened his book.

"Maybe the weather is punishing you, Dante," Nero offered, a slight smirk on his lips. "I mean, it was sunny all week. Maybe if you straighten up and stop being such an ass, the weather won't torture you like this." The eldest devil chuckled softly behind his book.

Unamused, Dante threw the closest item to him, which ironically happened to be a textbook, at Nero. The youngest of the three barely dodged the projectile. It hit the wall with a loud bang and fell onto the ground. Nero glared at his attacker. "It was a joke you asshole. I would think you'd know all about that."

Dante responded to Nero's statement with a huff and hopped off the windowsill. He wrenched the dorm's door open. "C'mon. We're finding something to do even if it kills us."

Nero shrugged and slipped his sling on before joining Dante at the door. Vergil, however, shook his head and waved them off. "You two go ahead. I'm going to finish my book."

"Neeeeeeeeeeeerd!" Dante taunted, now in a much better mood than previously. He then turned to Nero. "Well, let's go."

The two younger half humans descended the staircase to the hallway below. When they reached the end of the corridor, Nero decided to question Dante. "So...where are we going exactly?"

With a shrug, Dante replied, "Dunno yet."

"Sounds fun," said Nero, sarcasm obvious in his tone. "Do you ever think anything through first?"

Dante turned a corner sharply, causing Nero to almost run into him. "Watch what you're doing. And no, not usually. I'd be too much like Vergil if I were thinking every little thing out, wouldn't I?"

Nero snorted, restraining himself with difficulty from saying that this would be an enormous improvement. He knew saying something like that would definitely result in pain somewhere down the line, Dante the one to inflict it. Instead, the younger half demon improvised with, "I have a feeling I'm going to regret following you."

Stopping in the middle of the hall, Dante ran his fingers through silver hair, his electric blue eyes searching for any sort of inspiration. "You know that even just walking around this place is ten times more fun than just sitting up in our room." The red-clad teen turned the knob of one of the classrooms and pulled the door open. A flash of lightning briefly illuminated the dark room, throwing light over the abandoned desks. Being half demon, Dante had never had trouble seeing in the dark and was able to navigate to the light switch with ease.

"A classroom Dante? Doesn't really seem your style..." Nero entered the room as well, automatically feeling a dramatic drop in the temperature. He shivered, and pulled his navy blue, short-sleeved hoodie closer to his body. "Why the fuck is it so cold in here?"

Dante hadn't noticed the chill in the air until Nero had pointed it out. Glancing around the room, he noticed that the window behind the teacher's desk was wide open. Mumbling about idiot teachers leaving their windows open, Dante crossed the classroom, splashing through a decent-sized puddle of water that had accumulated in front of the window. He kicked the office chair from behind the desk to the front of the window and hopped up onto it. Reaching up, Dante gripped the bottom of the window and suddenly froze. Outside on the grounds, a figured wrapped in what looked like a tattered cloak was stood, seeming to be staring at the school.

The younger of the duo raised an eyebrow when he noticed Dante freeze up. "What's up, Dante?"

Without answering, Dante slammed the window shut, causing the glass to rattle dangerously. His heart was beating much faster than normal as he jumped down from the chair and strode quickly through the neatly arranged desks to the door. Curiosity and adrenaline were mixing as he tore down the corridor toward the front entrance of the school.

Nero dashed out of the room after him. "What the hell is your problem?" he shouted after him just as Dante flitted around a corner. The abandoned teen just growled and flipped around to return to their dorm to inform Vergil of Dante's whacked out behavior. He grumbled to himself, "I'm not chasing that idiot down...fuck that."

The devil in red didn't even notice his companion hadn't followed him as he sprinted toward the front of the school. He was so determined to figure out who the hell - or _what_ the hell - would be standing out in the pouring rain, just staring up at the school as if it were some unfamiliar or fascinating building. He didn't even care to make a smart ass remark to the school janitor when he shouted after the teen to slow down.

Dante reached the front doors without running into anyone else and yanked it open. He stepped just outside the large doors, protected from the pelting rain by the awning, and searched the grounds with his azure orbs. His hands balled into fists out of frustration when he couldn't find the mysterious figure. Just as he was about to give up and return to the dorm, his eyes met with the image of the billowing cloak, though it was now standing directly in front of him hear the gate.

From this new, much closer distance, Dante could just make out the face of the stranger. Its complexion was pale white to gray. Though, what tipped the sixteen year old off to the fact that this cloaked figure wasn't human were the eyes - or lack of them - and its mouth. Black pits resided where the eyes should have been and its mouth hung open lazily and seemed almost as if it would not close.

The two stared (if you could call it that) each other down, both completely still. Then, a large scythe appeared out of nowhere in the hands of the stranger. Raising the weapon, the cloak figure flew toward toward Dante with speed he wouldn't have ever expected.

Dante seemed rooted to the spot from surprise and was barely able to dive out of the way before the scythe severed his neck. He landed on the concrete below hard and scrambled to his feet just in time to see the demon whip around to face him again. It raised the weapon above its head, preparing to bring it down on its half devil adversary, only to stop mid swing. Seeing an opening, Dante lunged to attack. But, the demon disappeared in a puff of some sort of black, dust-like smoke.

Extremely pissed off and somewhat unnerved by the fact he had just almost been decapitated, Dante growled and punched the wall before slipping back inside. He had to tell Vergil and Nero about the demon. He had a feeling this wasn't random...

After returning to the dorm, Nero had told Vergil about Dante freezing up in the empty classroom, then running off as if the building were on fire. The elder twin frowned at Nero's description, marked his place in his book, then led Nero back down the staircase leading to their room. Vergil, having known his twin his whole life, he was aware that this was not normal behavior, even for him.

Nero and Vergil came to a bend in the corner and collided with with their red-clad room mate, who was out of breath and slightly paler than normal. Vergil stood first and dusted himself off before hoisting the other white haired demons to their feet. He faced his twin and crossed his arms, brow furrowed. "Dante, what's going on?" he demanded of his brother. "Nero says you were acting weird."

"There was a demon outside," replied Dante shortly, trying to catch his breath.

Nero blinked stupidly at the news, but Vergil seemed unfazed."Are you sure it was a demon? I mean, I know you're bored, brother, but making something up like this is ridiculous..."

Dante narrowed his eyes. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure it was a demon. Especially when a huge scythe appeared in its hands out of nowhere, it tried to decapitate me, and then disappeared right before slicing me in half."

"But why would a demon be here?" Nero asked, failing to keep the note of fear out of his voice.

Vergil shook his head. "It was probably just a coincidence. The important thing is its gone now and your head is still firmly on your shoulders. So, let's go back to our room."

The three turned back in the direction Nero and Vergil had just come. They trudged back up to their room silently, all of them too deep in thought to speak to each other. None of them were satisfied with Vergil's explanation of a coincidence, not even Vergil himself. But, they all hoped it was merely a fluke and nothing more.


	4. Chapter 4

theUndertakerx: Yes, dumbing Vergil down is very difficult. And I'm glad you liked the chapter and that I got the right amount of everything in it! XD I totally heard it in Piccolo's voice from DBZA when I wrote the chapter. A part of me just couldn't resist calling Vergil a nerd like that :3. Thank ya for the review :D!

noiroux: Yay! I give people chills with my writing! That's exciting ^_^! And thanks for pointing out the typo...I honestly have no idea where hope came from. xD Thanks for the review!

Bitbyboth: I felt this story needed action so that's what you got last chapter :3. And who knows what's gonna happen next? Well...I do but hey, I'm not gonna ruin it for all of you awesome readers! Thanks for reviewing!

Alright! Here's chapter four! Yeah, it's kinda lame and boring, I know. Buuut it's got some important stuff in there XD. I almost put some Dante Vergil fluffy brotherlyness in there too, but then I felt putting it this way was a better idea...for now. Might be some of that later...and because I have a pervy mind, part of me wants to do DantexNero mess...But I don't think that would be appropriate for this story. ^_^

Anyway! Enough of my pointless rambling! So, enjoy the new installment! :D

* * *

Dante, Vergil, and Nero spent the rest of the afternoon and evening in their dorm, hardly speaking to each other. The red devil's news had shaken each of them in different ways, causing a unanimous silence to fall over them as they attempted to busy themselves with various activities. Finally, as the clock struck midnight, Vergil announced that the three try and get some sleep. So, after changing into their pajamas and extinguishing the lights, the three part demons laid down to catch some z's.

Sleep however was much more difficult to accomplish than Vergil had expected. No matter how many times the eldest teen closed his eyes and attempted to clear his mind, images from his past and brutal scenarios of demons attacking the school much like they had all those years ago flooded into his brain. After an hour or so of repeating this process numerous times, Vergil heard Nero's breathing slow down from across the room, signaling that the young demon had finally dozed off. He then cautioned a glance at his twin and frowned. Dante's eyes were still wide open and staring up at the ceiling, his silver eyebrows knitted slightly in worry.

Vergil pushed himself up on his elbows to get a better view of his twin as lightning streaked through the sky and a clap of thunder broke the near silence in the room. "Dante?" he whispered, just loud enough for his brother to hear. Dante blinked, then turned on his side to face Vergil, a questioning look on his face. "Are you alright?"

Instead of replying to the blue demon's inquiry, Dante muttered darkly, "They killed our mother, Vergil. Now they want to do the same to us."

"Dante, that's absurd," the elder twin stated in his normal, calm, collected tone, despite his desire to agree with his brother. He knew the chances of his brother's statement being true were high, but Vergil needed to keep his brother calm or he might do something irrational. "You're just being paranoid. What happened today was merely a coinci-"

"Don't feed me that bull shit again, Vergil!" hissed Dante venomously as he sprang upright in his bed. "I can't...No, I _refuse _to sit back and let demons take innocent lives like they did to Mom!"

Groaning, Vergil swung his legs over the side of his bed to directly face his distraught brother. The elder twin had only seen his brother this fired up the night after the tragedy. The two were lying in their bunk beds much like they had been a few minutes previous before Dante started crying and raving about how they should have saved their mother. It had taken him several hours to calm the young Dante down, due to the fact that he had to fight tears of his own as well. "Dante, I assure you, nothing like that is going to happen again."

With the amazing speed only a demon could manage, Dante flew across the gap separating him from his brother and stood over Vergil menacingly. Anger had flared up inside him at his double's calm demeanor like a wild fire. His eyes flashed dangerously as he growled, "How the hell can you be so calm? A demon attacked me today and you sit there like nothing happened! People could be in danger! _We _could be in danger, you asshole!"

Vergil returned his brother's glare with one of his own as he calmly asked, "And what do you suggest we do, brother? Leave the school and hunt down all the demons we can find?" When Dante seemed to actually be giving Vergil's preposterous suggestion serious thought, Vergil rolled his eyes. "Don't even think about it, you moron. I was jesting. As I said before, there is no reason for us to make any unnecessary moves. We're safe here."

"Seriously Verg?" Dante's anger had diminished slightly due to the tiny sliver of bitter amusement that had crept in. His brother's stupidity, or possibly his want to forget the whole thing and just let it go as coincidence, was just too funny. The white haired teen turned away from his twin and moved back to his own bed. "Safe. Yeah. That's why a demon was able to get within three feet of the entrance to the school and almost take my head as a trophy."

With an annoyed groan, Vergil fell backward onto his mattress once more. He pinched the bridge of his nose in irritation. "Look Dante. How about we talk to Headmistress Connoly in the morning. Let's see what she has to say about it. But I beg of you, do not do anything stupid. If your theory is correct and they are after us, they'll come to us and we'll decide what to do about them then."

Even though he wasn't completely satisfied with this solution, Dante sighed, then yawned widely. "Fine, fine. I won't do anything stupid and we'll talk to the headmistress."

"Good. Now go to sleep." Far too exhausted to argue now, the younger twin nodded and slipped under the blankets covering his bed, almost immediately drifting off to sleep..

* * *

After dressing for the day and explaining their plan to Nero, the demonic trio marched down to the main floor. Vergil raised his fist to the headmistress's door and knocked gently three times. The three waited patiently for a few seconds before the door swung open, revealing the boys' headmistress dressed in her usual attire depite it being a Sunday. "Good morning boys. You're up early for the weekend," the woman greeted the white haired teens, unable to keep the hint of surprise from her voice.

Vergil nodded. "Yes. I'm sorry to bother you so early, but Dante has something...rather urgent he needs to bring to your attention."

Headmistress Conolly eyed the red-clad part human with a mix of suspicion and concern, then stepped aside to admit Dante, Vergil, and Nero into her office. She moved back behind her desk and sat down. "Well Dante. What do you need to tell me?"

Dante related his tale to the woman behind the desk. A silence fell over the room as Mrs. Conolly mulled over the teen's words. Finally, "I believe this was an isolated case, Dante." When Dante opened his mouth to retort, the headmistress cut him off. "However, I will have people keep an eye out just in case."

"But-"

"Dante, if there were demons after the three of you, don't you think they would have come after you when you were younger and much more vulnerable?"

Knowing the headmistress had a valid point, Dante growled softly and crossed his arms. Nero, however, had a question of his own. "Headmistress...What if they are after us? What do we do?"

Headmistress Conolly just shook her head. "There's nothing to worry about as of now, Nero. We'll cross that bridge if need be."

The youngest devil nodded gravely and Dante scoffed, obviously feeling this answer was nowhere near sufficient. And, as if to emphasize his point, Dante stormed out of the tidy room without another word. The eldest of the trio sighed softly. "Thank you, headmistress. Come on Nero."

The two remaining half demons exited the office and headed for the stairs, Vergil scowling at the air in front of him as he walked. As the two ascended to the floor above, Nero muttered timidly, "Er...Vergil?"

"What?" Vergil frowned, realizing he had used a much harsher tone with Nero than he intended. "What?" he repeated, softer this time.

"Is Dante acting like this because he's scared or what?"

The sixteen year old in blue sighed softly, leading Nero along the corridor which led to their room. "Partly, I think. It's mostly because of what happened to our mother."

Nero just nodded, knowing he probably shouldn't push the subject any further. The twins' parentage had always been a rather tender subject, and Nero felt he should let the two be when it came to that, no matter how curious he was. Without another word, Vergil and Nero re-entered their dorm, both wanting nothing more than to wake up from what could possibly turn into a terrible nightmare for the three young devils.


	5. Chapter 5

**noiroux:** Yeah, they definitely showed some vulnerability in the last chapter and I thought it fit them too without making them seem like pansies xD. I'm glad my writing is good enough to make you feel sorry for them (does that sound weird? meh...). Anyway! Thanks so much for the review!

**theUndertakerx:** I don't know why, but I find a scared Dante adorable (even though he's not really supposed to be depicted that way probably xD). And no, it's not sad that you wanted him to cry and for Vergil to comfort him cuz I totally almost did that at first ;D. But in the end I decided against it...though it could possibly happen later on...no guarantees though. Thanks for the review ^_^!

**.vendetta:** :D Yay! I'm so happy that you think it's a great story! Like I've said previously, I wasn't too sure how this whole putting them in school idea would go over, but so far I'm pretty satisfied with where it's going. I love writing all their interactions, and it definitely helps to know that I'm doing a good job at it :3. Thank ya muchly for the loverly review!

Alrighty! So here's chapter 5! I know, it's a bit short and filler-ish, but things are going to pick up next chapter! Thanks so much for all the reviews and favoriting! I really do appreciate it and hope you all keep it up ^_^

Oh, and I'm sorry these updates are so sporadic. The AP English class I'm in pretty much requires an essay a day almost and it's really ridiculous and saps my will to write anymore o_o. But, I'll continue to do my best to update whenever I get the chance! :D

* * *

A few weeks had gone by since Dante's scrape with the mysterious demon at the foot of Westbrook's doorstep. There hadn't been a single glimpse or whiff of a demon since, much to the three half demon's relief. Dante couldn't help but feel a hint of disappointment at the lack of demonic prescence, however. Being the proud teenager he was, it was beginning to seem that his theory was wrong and that angered him, especially since he _knew_ there was more behind the attack despite what everyone who was aware of it kept trying to tell him. Plus, he didn't want Vergil to have the smug satisfaction that he was right about the situation.

Luckily for Dante, he had physical education as an outlet for his pent up frustration. Even though he couldn't go all out as he would have liked, which is the reason why he hated the class more than he enjoyed it, at least it was _something._ And, it just so happened that he and his twin were preparing for this particular class.

"Remember Dante," Vergil muttered softly as he laced up his tennis shoes, "control yourself." Regardless of Dante's best efforts to hide his growing annoyance, Vergil knew he was aggravated about no other demons showing up and disproving his hypothesis.

With an eye roll and an agitated scoff, Dante said, "Yeah, I know Verg. But if Ty or any other asshole tries anything after Mrs. Bitch decided to send me to the headmistress's office for sneezing, I'm not guaranteeing their safety." The younger twin finished off the double knot he was tying in his shoe lace and headed for the door of the locker room.

Vergil sighed softly, then followed his brother out into the gym. "Right. And even though that was really unfair, 'Mrs. Bitch' is not our teacher's name."

"Might as well be." The white-haired devil in red raised his arms over his head to stretch them out. "I hope we play dodge ball. Think I'll try to hit Lowden in the gut hard enough to send him flying into the wall..."

The elder twin smiled slightly at his brother and opened his mouth to speak only to be interrupted. "As if you could throw that hard or even hit me," scoffed Ty Lowden as he and his cronies marched into the gymnasium. "Hell, you're such a bad shot, you couldn't hit me at two feet away."

Dante let his arms fall back to his sides, his hands clenching into tight fists. A smirk tugged at the corners of his mouth as he growled, "You sure about that? I think you and dickheads one and two left the gym covered in bruises from being pelted with dodge balls from me and Vergil." By then, Vergil had moved to his brother's side, an identical smirk gracing his own lips.

Before Ty could respond, the rest of the class, followed by the PE coach, had entered the room. Ty, William, and Alphonso sent the part demon twins the dirtiest looks they could manage then slumped to the other side of the room. "Alright. Just play dodge ball or something. I have...er...a staff meeting to attend," Coach Astley stated evasively as he dropped the box of multicolored dodge balls on the polished, wooden floor. He then turned to the twins. "Vergil, you're in charge." After receiving a nod from the prefect, he left the gym.

Vergil left his double's side and made his way to the box Astley had abandoned in the middle of the floor. "You all know the drill," he announced in a rather bored voice as he poured the contents of the box onto the floor, "pick your teams and last team standing wins." He then moved back to Dante's side, the usual boys following to the demons' team and Ty's faithful followers joining him on the opposite side of the gym.

The game, which gradually became more and more violent than usual as the game progressed, finally ended with Dante knocking Ty's feet from beneath him with a ball. The two rivals had their normal shouting match from across the gymnasium, but surprisingly, no punches were thrown. Vergil figured this was because his twin had done nothing to obscure his volatile temper and Ty didn't want to be the one to set that time bomb off.

"Ah. It does my heart good to see an asshole like Ty totally embarrassed like that," said Dante, a wide grin on his face as he and Vergil exited the locker room dressed in their uniforms once more. "I can't believe he let his guard down like that...not that he had a chance in hell of beating us anyway."

Vergil nodded in agreement. "Indeed. And, surprisingly enough, you controlled yourself."

The younger twin rolled his eyes at his brother's "compliment" as they rounded the corner and entered the entrance hall. Several students were congregated there, relaxing and enjoying the break between classes. The two devils crossed the hall to the large front doors however, preferring to spend this half hour free from teachers, textbooks, and homework on the grounds rather than inside.

As they were making their way to their normal tree on the side of the building, the white-haired teens passed by a group of younger girls clustered closely around something on the ground giggling and occasionally squeaking things like, "So cute!"

Vergil raised an eyebrow at the scene and began to stride over to take a look, but Dante caught him by the arm. "Oh, c'mon Verg. They're not doing anything wrong. It's probably just a baby bird or something that's lost its way. Let 'em be." The elder of the two cast the girls one last suspicious glance before letting out a small sigh and allowing his brother to drag him away.

"It's about time you two showed up." Nero was already leaned against the large oak tree, his legs out in front of him and crossed at the ankles.

The twins took a seat on the ground on either side of their young room mate. Dante fell back so he was using the base of the tree as an uncomfortable pillow. "Shut up, Nero. We were busy making Ty and his goons regret messing with the sons of Sparda...Especially when one of them is pissed off already."

The youngest of the half devils chuckled softly. "What happened this time? Were you throwing shit at people, flirting in class, or cheating on a test?"

Dante scowled and punched Nero in the thigh, causing him to yelp in pain. "I sneezed in Lamarre's class and she sent me to the headmistress' office for it. And I have never cheated on a test, for your information. If I did, I'd probably get better grades on them."

"No kidding?" Nero ignored Dante's claim that he never cheats and turned to Vergil. "Is that true?"

The eldest of the trio hadn't been paying attention to the conversation. Instead, Vergil had been watching the group of girls curiously, hoping to get a glimpse of what was attracting their attention. The gathering had broken up for the most part, leaving only two girls behind; one with a long red braid that fell down her back and the other with short black hair. Unfortunately, their backs were to the three half devils, obscuring the object from his view still. The prefect released a sigh of defeat and turned his attention back to his comrades, only to find them both staring at him curiously. "What?"

"Did Dante really get kicked out of class for sneezing?" Nero asked again, somewhat amused by Vergil's behavior.

Vergil nodded, then shot a question of his own at Nero. "Do you know what those girls were so fascinated with? They looked to be about your age..."

"Nope," Nero replied shortly, slipping his human hand under his sling to scratch his devil bringer. "Probably something stupid though."

Dante pushed himself up on his elbows. "Why are you so hung up on that? And I swear to god if you say it's because they could have been doing something against the rules, I'll throttle you."

"Hmph. Even if that is what I'm thinking, it is my job after all," stated Vergil, his usual, pompous tone returning.

Dante began to make a snide remark about his brother's superior attitude, only to be cut off by the bell sounding from the school, signaling their need to return to classes. The three silver-haired teens stood, gathered their materials, then headed back for the school silently to attend their last few classes of the day.


	6. Chapter 6

**Demoniaque:** Haha, yeah I like the rain line too. It amused even me when I re-read it and I wrote it xD! I'm glad seeing that I've updated makes you happy! Your review made me happy as well (as they all do ;D)! Anyway, thanks for the review and it's rad you enjoy the story so far!

**noiroux:** I feel like I'll be disappointing people by saying this, but no, they aren't who you think they are (as you'll find out this chapter anyway). When I wrote the last chapter I didn't even realize I had made it sound that way until after I read your review lol. But I definitely agree that Dante is awesome (as should everyone with their awesome meters intact) and I would be totally jealous if Dante went to your school XD. Now if he went to _my_ school...well we won't go into that ;3. Uber thanks for the review!

**theUndertakerx:** Wow, I'm just disappointing all over the place today ;_;. But no, Vergil does not have a crush, mostly because I feel like he'd be starting to get his "need more power and humans suck" attitude since he's older and stuff...but that's just me. Their names crack me up too, especially Alphonso xD. Thank you random name generator lmao. Thank ya for the review! ^_^

**After The Fire:** It may be relevant, it may not be. You'll just have to keep reading to find out ;p! I'm glad you love the story! Thanks for reviewing!

**.vendetta:** I couldn't resist with the dodgeball bit. It was calling me XD. The whole "if I cheated my grades would be better" line is another of my favorites and it was very easy to see Dante coming up with that and it fit so perfectly :3. I'm happy that the pace is consistent and I'm getting depth. Hopefully I can keep that going ^_^. Thanks muchly for the awesome review!

Okey dokey! Here's chapter 6! A little on the short side, but I gave Nero more action and attention than I've given him so far. It made me sad that I had neglected him ;_;. But here it is! Enjoy! :3

* * *

The remaining portion of the school day progressed at a snail-like pace until the final bell sounded throughout the building. The half demon twins quickly stuffed their school equipment into their bags and joined the throng of students gushing into the hallway, Vergil having to shout down a few for running or destructive horseplay. The number of students thinned out as Dante and Vergil neared the hallway which led to their dormitory, where they found Nero with a foot on the first step leading to the three devils' room. When Dante shouted a greeting at the youngest of the trio, he was met with an annoyed grimace from Nero. "Damn, what's got your panties in a bunch?" Dante asked as he and Vergil approached, the usual carefree, playful tone present in his voice.

Nero just rolled his eyes and continued up the stairs, using every ounce of control he possessed not to unsheathe his imprisoned Devil Bringer and bury it in Dante's smug face. When he was sure the two were following him and were in earshot, he growled a response to the proposed question: "Mr. Moretti wants to see me in half an hour." He kicked the door open with much more force than was necessary, earning him a disapproving glare from Vergil. Hardly noticing this, Nero tossed his belongings onto his bed and nearly tore the sling from his red and blue demonic arm. "Not exactly how I want to start my weekend."

As Dante grinned and opened his mouth to make some stupid remark on Nero's situation, Vergil smacked him in the back of the head before asking, "Why does he wish to see you?"

"It's not like I did anything wrong if that's what you're getting at," Nero snapped, glaring at his eldest room mate, who seemed less than convinced. "Hell, for all I know it might not be anything bad. But I still don't want to waste my time talking to a _teacher_. I get enough of them during the day."

Vergil scrunched his nose in slight disgust as he sat gracefully on his own bed and pulled a book from the depths of his school bag. "Ugh, Nero. You're beginning to sound like Dante..."

Dante, who had just flopped down on his own bed with one of his "special" magazines, shot a hurt, if not somewhat amused, look at his sibling. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Nero couldn't stop the smirk tugging at his lips.

"It means exactly what I said," Vergil stated haughtily, hopping up from his bed with the speed and agility only a demon could muster, "he's becoming a miniature version of you and soon he'll have as much disdain for authority and his education as you have." He snatched the magazine from his twin's slack grip. "And I thought I had confiscated these wretched excuses for reading material already. Need I remind you pornography is forbidden here?" By this time, Nero was rolling on his bed with laughter at the middle demon's misfortune.

"Anyone should be proud to be as awesome as me." The younger of the brothers attempted to swipe the magazine back from Vergil, only to have it ripped out of his reach, causing him to nearly face plant onto the ground below.

Sensing another sons of Sparda argument brewing, Nero composed himself and slid his sling back onto his right arm again. Without another word or either of his room mates noticing, Nero slipped out of the room and down the stairs. The youngest part human strolled leisurely down the twisting hallways to Mr. Moretti's classroom, taking his sweet time and not really caring if he ended up being late. He arrived with a minute to spare before his scheduled appointment, however, and was greeted my Mr. Moretti's booming voice. "Nero! Just in time! Have a seat!"

Nero blinked, confused and slightly annoyed by the portly man's jovial demeanor. "Er, why did you want to see me?" he asked, cutting straight to the chase. He wanted to get out of here and do as he pleased as soon as possible.

"Of course, of course." Westbrook's mathematician waddled back to his desk and took a seat behind it, motioning for Nero to take a seat in one of the student's desk. As the young demon did as he was bid, the teacher spoke again, "Anyway, I thought I would tell you that the headmistress, myself, and a few of the other teacher's were discussing the prospect of a new prefect, since Vergil will be leaving after this year."

Nero had to fight a powerful urge to roll his eyes and walk out of the room. "Um, not to be rude or anything, but what does that have to do with me?"

"Why, it has everything to do with you, boy!" he replied dramatically, obviously trying to hold off on his actual point for effect. "I tossed your name into the mix! I know you're a little young, but I'm certain you've got the stuff for it! And after I saw you helping little Cindy Lou so selflessly on her assignment the other day just sealed the deal!"

"Oh..." Nero stared down at his human hand, trying to find the right words. "Well, thanks for having er...faith in me I guess. But that sort of thing isn't for me, so I'd probably turn the job down if they tried to give it to me." He paused, then, seeing Mr. Moretti's disappointed expression, added, "Sorry."

Mr. Moretti seemed to be at a loss for words, probably for the first time in his life. Finally, he laughed loudly. "Honest as always! Ah well. Positions of authority aren't for everyone." He stood, and followed Nero to the door. "Well, I'll see you Monday, Nero. Don't forget to study for the test!"

The teen gave him a nod before walking back toward his room. As he approached the corridor which contained the stairway to his room, an argument in one of the adjoining hallways stopped him, since hardly anyone ever came up here. "You can't keep it here, Rina! It's against the rules!" a female voice squeaked.

Nero peeked around the corner and found two girls in his class there. The one who had spoken was small with short black hair. Her eyes were wide with fear and kept darting in every direction as if to make sure the coast were absolutely clear. The second girl's hair was bright red and in a long braid. Large, round glasses were perched on her nose and freckles dotted her cheeks. Upon closer inspection, Nero noticed she was cradling what looked like a black kitten in her arms. "I'm not just leaving it out in the cold again, Lily!" said Rina stubbornly. "I won't get caught! No one hardly ever comes up here!"

Lily bit her lip and sighed, seeming to find her appeal against Rina fruitless. "Well...fine. But please don't get caught! I don't want you to get expelled!"

After opening the door to an unused broom closet, Rina gently placed the kitten in the closet. "I promise I won't." She closed the door after giving the tiny feline a last pat on the head. The two girls made their way toward the place where Nero was eavesdropping, causing Nero to panic slightly and trip as he tried to get away and look as if he was just now approaching the scene. The two girls rounded the corner when they heard the commotion, and Nero silently cursed himself, wondering why his demon reflexes seemed to suck compared to Dante's or Vergil's...Or why his luck seemed so crappy.

Nero jumped back to his feet, coming face to face with the girls, both pale and horror stricken. The boy smiled nervously at the two. "Hey Rina, Lily. What brings you up here?"

"What did you see?" questioned Rina venomously, obviously not believing Nero's little act. Her gaze had gone from frightened to almost murderous in a split second.

Realizing that the jig was up, the half devil sighed softly, instinctively curling the fingers of his Devil Bringer into a fist to make sure they were completely hidden. "All of it."

"Don't tell the headmistress, please!" Lily begged as Rina's green eyes flashed with rage. "Or the prefects..." she added timidly.

"Well...I don't see how a cat could really harm things..." said Nero slowly. Then, he shrugged. "Alright. I saw nothing." The two girls grinned and thanked him before scurrying away. The remaining teen shook his head, then strode across the rest of the hallway and up the stairs to the dorm. When he opened the door, a surprising silence met his ears; part of him had expected the twins to be arguing still. However, he found the two lounging on their beds, Vergil with his nose buried in a book and Dante staring into the depths of the ruby amulet their mother had given the twins as he so often did nowadays.

The sons of Sparda looked up simultaneously (something the youngest half demon had always found a bit creepy about the twins) as Nero closed the door. "So, what did Mr. Moretti need?" Vergil asked, marking his page in his book.

With a shrug, Nero answered, "Just to tell me he mentioned my name to be a prefect when you leave. I told him it wasn't my thing and wouldn't take it even if they gave it to me."

Vergil nodded after a moment and returned to his reading. Dante remained silent, however. Figuring it was because he was in one of his sour "I'm not talking to anyone, not even to make a wise crack" moods after the twins' quarrel, Nero simply returned to his bed bed, pulled his sling off, and stretched out along the length of the soft mattress to take a nap until dinner.


	7. Chapter 7

**theUndertakerx: **Totally thought about using the "Why do you refuse to gain power" bit, but as you said, it is overused. Would have been pretty funny though xD. Thankies for the review!

**A Clockwork Orange:** It's alright that you didn't review before. I'm just glad you did :3. I'm also glad that you think the story is awesome. Sorry that it wasn't updated quickly though. ;_;...Anyway! Thanks for the review :D!

**godofmadness:**thanks for reviewing all the chapters! That made me happy :3. Anyways, to answer the questions you had, you'll have to find out later what the Hell Pride was there for and no, they were not who you thought that were, as you found out a chapter later xD. But yeah, thanks again for the feedback :3.

**ZeroGamer:**I didn't like Nero at first either, but he grew on me...though that might be because of all the fics I read .. But yeah, I definitely don't want to make him too much like Dante because they are indeed different and I felt he needed more being the main focus of the chapter time xD. Thanks for the review!

**.vendetta:**I have to say, after reading your review, my day was brightened considerably, especially when you told me you literally come online to see if I've updated (which I apologize for the fact it has been so long ;_;). But to business! It is difficult sometimes to maintain the characters' behaviors and personalities consistent with the three main characters. But, it's good to hear I'm managing to do it well :D. Thanks for the criticism as well! Funny part about that is I actually thought to change it but then didn't...can't say why...but I think it may have been late when I was editing...ah well. As for adding other DMC characters, I have thought about it, but I'm not sure if I can find a place to slip any of them in at this point. So I will say this; if I find a place to squeeze other characters in and make it work, I most likely will :P. Thanks so much for the amazing review ^_^

So once again, I apologize for lateness. Hopefully over the break I won't have to do any essays or anything for my English class and will be able to update this then (or sooner ;D). Also, I want to see where anyone else stands on the whole bringing in other characters such as Lady, Kyrie, or any other DMC character. It has been brought up a few times I think and just out of curiosity I want to know what everyone else thinks. ^_^

But, without further ado, here is chapter 7 of Devils' High School!

* * *

A month had passed since Nero's encounter with Rina, Lily, and the kitten, and he occasionally encountered them sneaking around the utility closet the kitten had been hidden in. But the youngest half demon of Westbrook School did not have time to worry about them, nor did anyone else. Finals week had arrived, along with the blistering cold temperatures of winter. Everyone was far too busy studying to worry about anything else.

The final bell chimed throughout the school, signalling the end of the first day of finals. Dante and Vergil slipped out of the classroom with the rest of their class and moved in the direction of their dorm room. "Well, I think a C plus is pretty good considering my past performance in the class, don't ya think, Verg?"

Vergil rolled his eyes, his slight anxiety about the finals to come and his annoyance with his twin merging together. "You and I both know you could have at least scraped a B if you had tried harder. Settling for fair is unacceptable and nearly as bad as giving up, Dante."

"Maybe for you," retorted Dante, his carefree attitude still firmly intact. His mood only escalated due to the sight that met the twins at the end of the hallway. Two girls from their class were seemingly chatting in front of one of the old suits of armor. The twins knew they were waiting for the two of them from the furtive glances they kept sending the twins, plus the fact that the first two buttons of their white undershirts were unbuttoned showing more cleavage than appropriate and their skirts were hiked up higher than normal. Dante smirked at the girls as they approached, but Vergil scrunched his nose in disgust.

"Hello, ladies," Dante greeted the two. He planted his hand on the wall next to them and leaned into it, smirk still glued to his face. "What brings two beauties like you here?"

The two girls giggled, and simultaneously said, "Talking." The blond twirled her hair in a flirty manner.

Before Dante could continue his mission to lead the two girls off to an empty classroom somewhere, Vergil gripped his brother's upper arm and pulled him away from the girls with more force than was necessary. "Come, Dante. We have studying to do." Ignoring his brother's slight blush of embarrassment and cursing, the elder half devil turned to the girls. "Fix your uniforms or I'll have to report you." Satisfied with the girls' taken aback expressions and their clamber to fix their appearances, Vergil smirked ever so slightly and dragged his twin toward their room once more.

Once out of earshot, Dante released himself from his brother's grip. "What the hell, Vergil? It was innocent flirting!"

"Shut up. You and I both know there was nothing innocent going through your mind." Dante scoffed as they ascended the stairs, attempting to keep the act going, even if he knew it was pointless. After throwing the door open, Vergil continued. "Besides, those two were sluts for lack of a better term at the moment, and morons for trying something like that in front of a prefect."

Dante, still unfazed by his brother's scolding, just shrugged and tossed his belongings on his bed. "What can I say? I like sluts. They don't mind breaking rules and making out in closets." The pure disgust on the elder twin's face just caused Dante to smirk more. "Aw, c'mon Verg. You can't tell me you've never thought about having some fun with a chick, if you know what I mean."

Vergil composed his face into the usual cold, emotionless mask before replying with, "You disgust me sometimes, Dante."

Nero slipped into the room at that moment, cutting Dante's next remark off. His blue eyes darted between the twins, and deciding it wasn't worth it to ask what they had argued about this time, made his way to his bed and flopped down on top of it. Ever since the encounter with the mysterious kitten, he had been checking the closet every once in a while after Dante and Vergil had fallen asleep, just to make sure it was still there. The two girls had never done anything wrong to him, so he didn't want to see them get in trouble, especially since he could be dragged into the situation. He figured it wouldn't come to the latter, but he wanted to be safe.

After sending one last icy look to his younger twin, Vergil decided he should acknowledge Nero's existence before he thought he was being ignored. "Did you do well on your finals, Nero?"

The youngest devil nodded as he removed the sling from his Devil Bringer. With his human hand, he massaged his glowing blue wrist and responded, "Yeah. I got all A's on them and one B."

"Good. Much better than Dante." Nero chuckled softly to himself at Vergil's middle demon seemed not to have noticed his brother's insult to his intelligence and was staring idly at the ceiling above him. He was simply glad he would have a two week break from school after all this finals shit was over.

Just as Vergil and Nero settled in to study for their exams the next day and Dante had slipped into dream land, a blood curdling scream rang out from just below their room. The three half humans froze and exchanged desperate looks before hopping to their feet, charging to the door, and flying down the stairs. The trio sprinted toward the hair raising sound, but stopped cold at the sight before them. A red-headed girl was sprawled on the ground in the middle of a pool of dark red blood. The three teens gaped at the gory scene, mouths hanging open slightly. Vergil was the first to compose himself and inched closer to the corpse, stepping over the glasses that had flown from the girl's face when, as he hypothesized, was attacked. Now that he was closer, Vergil could see the gash that ran the length of her torso and looked as if a giant talon had ripped through the girl's flesh. Her green eyes stared unseeingly at the ceiling.

A small whimper to the part humans' left caused three pairs of blue eyes to snap to the girl standing there. The small brunette's face was whiter than a sheet of paper and tears were glistening on her cheeks and falling onto the jacket of her uniform. Her eyes were fixed on the other girl as if in a trance, and her whole frame was shaking from shock.

Nero swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat and whispered, "Lily? What happened to..." He couldn't bring himself to say the other girl's name. His stomach had twisted into a complicated knot that had no chance of being untied, and his voice seemed to have escaped him.

When Lily just continued to stare at the body, obviously paralyzed by fear and panic, Nero took a step toward her. Apparently more aware of her surroundings than previously thought, Lily shrieked and backpedalled into the nearby wall. Her breathing was extremely labored and her eyes were the size of tennis balls as she gazed at Nero. She moved her lips as if to speak, but no words came out.

Not knowing what to do about the brunette, Nero turned back to the twins for answers. Vergil was still examining the body for clues about what happened. Dante hadn't moved from his spot, but his eyes were darting around the area as if searching for whoever or whatever did this to Rina. A grim expression had settled on his face and his hands repeatedly clenched into fists.

Finally Vergil turned back to his room mates, his face as emotionless as ever. "Dante, go get Headmistress Connoly. Say nothing to anyone else about this." When Dante nodded and had disappeared around the corner, Vergil spoke to the the youngest half devil. "Put your sling back on. You and I are going to make sure no one else comes down this way. We don't need a panic."

Nero nodded and sent a worried look toward Lily, who had slid down the wall and wrapped her arms tightly around her knees. "What about Lily?" he whispered.

"The headmistress will have to deal with her. I don't think there's much we would be able to do for her."

Nero nodded, not completely satisfied with that answer. He quickly ascended the stairs once more and picked the sling up from his bed where he had left it. As he slipped the fabric over his Devil Bringer, Nero couldn't shake the feeling that this was somehow this fault. Knowing this was ridiculous, he returned to Vergil seconds later to help guard the hallway.

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Okay, so this chapter is a bit gorier and more violent than the others have been, so I have one more question. Since I'm terrible at deciding on ratings, I was wondering if I should bump this up a rating or not? It doesn't seem like it should right now, but there's most likely going to be more violence and gore later on xD. So if anyone of you readers out there is better witht he ratings thing, please let me know what you think! ^_^


	8. Chapter 8

**godofmadness43:** I have never heard that song. I might have to look it so I can see what you mean xD. And you'll have to find out what killed them ;D. Thanks for the review!

**.vendetta: **I especially enjoyed writing the flirting scene. I think I laughed through the whole thing xD. Thanks for the kudos on the character continuity. I try to keep up with that as best as best I can. Thank you foor the review :D!

**theUndertakerx:** Yeah, I think it's safe to keep it at T. Thanks for the rating advice! And don't worry about wanting Nero to get caught without his sling. I thought about doing it, so it will probably happen at some point ;D. Thankies for the review! :3

**Snookens5: **I'm glad you decided to read this and enjoyed it! Thanks for the review!

**noiroux:** No! You're not a bad fan! I'm just happy to have people read it! Besides, I forget to review sometimes too ;_;. Anyway, thank you for the rating advice as well. As I said before, I also think it's safe to keep it as it is :3. As for seeing other characters in the story, I'll see what I can do. I think it would be fun if I could sneak someone in there somehow...it's just how is what ahs me right now .. Thanks for the review!

**Taiyoukai assassin: **Dante's lack of care for intelligence amuses me too xD. I try not to make him stupid because he doesn't seem that way to me in the games, cuz he shows some slight intelligence every now and again. I just take it as, like you said, he just doesn't care xD. Thanks for the review!

**Mayuna:** :D Yay! I entertained you! That's definitely what I was going for and I'm glad I was successful ;D. thanks for the review!

Alright! Here's chapter eight! I meant to get this out yesterday but I decided to play Just Dance 2 with my brother so I apologize. Anyway, this is a late Christmas present to my faithful readers! :D

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Dante sprinted through the corridors faster than he had ever moved, especially in this direction, in his life. The scene he had witnessed minutes ago had both angered and saddened him in one blow. He _knew_ a demon had to be behind this; there was no other explanation. He had dropped his defenses concerning the foul creatures when no others presented themselves after his close encounter. Now he wished he hadn't. It was the childhood tragedy all over again. The amulet around his neck seemed to weigh a ton as visions of that terrible, gruesome night flashed through his thoughts as if a sadistic photographer had documented the night in photos and was torturing the young half demon by forcing him to view them.

The sixteen year old skidded to a halt in front of the headmistress' office door, too distracted by what he was about to divulge to the woman to realize how out of breath he was. Deciding knocking was a waste of time, Dante threw the door open. Headmistress Connoly sat behind her desk, a pair of reading glasses perched on her nose as she filled out what could only be some sort of paperwork. The commotion caused the middle aged woman to abandon her work and don an aggravated expression. The sight of the worn out, troubled-looking devil in her doorway caused the anger to melt away and be replaced by slight concern. "Dante, what brings you here? I haven't heard from the other teachers that you are in trouble and I have yet to call you here..."

The moment Dante caught his breath, he managed to quickly gasp, "Girl dead upstairs. I think demons are behind it."

The headmistress' eyes widened slightly, and she sprang from her desk and joined the silver-haired teen at the door with greater agility than could have been expected of a woman her age. Dante followed the woman back through the corridors and heard her say, "If this is a joke, you will seriously regret it Dante."

"I could never joke about something like this," Dante informed Headmistress Connoly coolly. With what had happened to his mother still fresh in his mind, and even more so now, Dante would not even think about such a prank.

After a few minutes, Dante and the headmistress spotted Nero and Vergil standing sentry near the scene of the attack. Vergil was as emotionless as ever, though upon closer inspection of his face, Dante noted the slight worry in the eyes which were identical to his own. Nero's complexion was whiter than normal and his eyes darted from one spot in the hall to another rapidly. Without a word to either part human, Headmistress Connoly moved passed them, only to stop dead in her tracks seconds later. A hand flew to her mouth to muffle the strangled cry which emitted from her throat despite the woman's efforts to keep it at bay.

Dante joined his room mates and the three watched as their headmistress walked forward slowly, her hand still covering her thin mouth. She stopped at the young girl's feet and began mumbling incoherently. The boys exchanged confused looks between themselves before Vergil took a step toward the woman. "Headmistress? What are we going to do?"

Vergil's voice seemed to snap the headmistress out of her mutterings, and she turned around to face the three demons. "What happened here?" she asked as if she hadn't heard Vergil at all, her voice clearly on the verge of shaking.

Not knowing how to answer their headmistress accurately or satisfactorily, Dante and Nero both looked away. Vergil sent them both a discrete scowl before returning his gaze to the distraught woman before them. "We don't know. There was a scream and we came to investigate. This is all we found." The eldest half devil hesitated momentarily before turning to the brunette sitting against the wall, gripping her knees tightly to her chest. "She may know something but she's in shock and hasn't said a word since we found her..."

The woman's gaze snapped to the girl against the wall and she immediately strode over to her. As the headmistress began consoling the girl, the three demons lost track of her words. Dante, Vergil, and Nero remained rooted to their spots, patiently observing Headmistress Connoly coax young Lily to her feet and lead her toward the teens, keeping an arm at the ready in case the girl should faint or something similar. The woman's face was stony as she spoke: "Nero, hold her and make sure she doesn't collapse." As Nero scurried to Lily's side, Headmistress Connoly addressed the remaining males in the hallway. "You two go seek out the janitors and tell them what has happened. They'll know what to do. Be sure to tell them that I demand that they stay silent on what they see no matter what happens."

The twins gave their headmistress a curt nod before turning and swiftly abandoning the scene of the crime. Once out of earshot of Nero, Lily, and Connoly, Dante mumbled, "It was a demon, Verg. I just know it."

Vergil ran his fingers through his spiky, white hair in frustration; he was now beginning to show signs of the stress that had begun with finals week and was increased by the events of the evening. "It certainly seems that way..."

The twins began the descent down a flight of stairs two at a time, both beginning to become anxious since they had not caught even a glimpse of a custodian. Dante growled lowly, his hands curling into fists. "Where the hell are they? For all we know they're dead somewhere too!"

"Calm down, Dante," the elder said, trying to keep the edge out of his voice despite his own growing irritation. "Let's check their office. Someone is bound to be there."

When the twin devils arrived in the basement where the janitors' office was located, Dante and Vergil peeked through the window in the door. Sure enough, two of the custodians sat around a small table inside playing a game of cards. Dante scowled. "Lazy bastards! If they weren't so busy dicking around, maybe this wouldn't have happened!"

Vergil grabbed his brother around the waist and forced him backwards as Dante made to burst through the door and scream insults down the men's throats. "Hush. I know you're upset but you need to cease being so irrational." Without a word, Dante wrenched himself out of his brother's hold and leaned against the nearby wall, arms crossed and a defiant glare still set on his face. Satisfied with his double's most likely temporary calm, Vergil placed a hand on the knob of the door. "Wait here. I'll take care of this." After adjusting the prefect's badge pinned to his blazer, Vergil slipped silently into the janitors' office.

Dante closed his eyes, trying to empty his mind of the past. He couldn't help but wonder how Vergil was remaining so calm and collected as he always had, even after what was going on. Didn't he wonder why a demon was lurking the halls of their high school? Wasn't he concerned about the safety of the rest of the student body? About their own safety? Even as he considered these questions, Dante couldn't help but feel slightly envious of his brother's calm demeanor in any situation. It beat the hell out of worrying and dreading a repeat of the tragedy which made them orphans at least.

The door reopened moments later and Vergil stepped out, followed by the two janitors who had formerly occupied the small room. The custodians rushed passed Dante and up the stairs to the main floor. Vergil nodded to Dante, and without a word, the two followed the custodians' lead and returned to the main hall of the school. Their silence persisted as they crossed the hall and entered their headmistress' office.

Inside, the twins were immediately met with a dreary, atmosphere. Headmistress Connoly was pacing the small area behind her desk, occasionally peering out the window thoughtfully. Two chairs had been placed in front of the large, organized desk, Nero and Lily occupying them. The youngest half demon remained vigilant concerning the girl, who was staring wide-eyed at nothing in particular.

The soft click of the office door being closed caused Nero and Connoly to avert their gaze to the newcomers. The youngest teen flashed them a pathetic smile before returning his sad, azure orbs to the traumatized girl next to him.

The headmistress motioned for the twins to join them near her desk as she lowered herself into the high backed chair behind it. "We were unable to get Lily to speak much. At least nothing coherent enough to piece together." The middle-aged woman sighed softly, then continued. "I believe I'm going to have to close the school, at least for the remainder of the week. Hopefully, that plus the two week break will give us enough time to sort this mess out and avoid a repeat of tonight."

Even though this is normally amazing news, under the current circumstances, no one in the room felt like celebrating. The three devils nodded stiffly in response, wondering what this meant for them.

As if reading their minds, the head of Westbrook School went on. "As for you three, we will have to resort to finding a new place for you to stay. A friend of mine-"

"No."

Headmistress Connoly's facial expression became one of surprise at Dante's interruption. The teen's serious demeanor furthered this shock; the woman did not often see Dante so serious. "Why the objection to this, Dante?"

At this point, Nero and Vergil were staring at Dante as if he had spontaneously grown another leg and had begun speaking some dead language. Dante ignored his room mates and replied, "I don't know about these two, but I'm staying here to help. If it is a demon, there's a good chance it's after us, especially if the one that tried to take my head as a trophy was looking for us that day."

Vergil shook his head. "That could have been a coincidence. _This_ could be a coincidence. I can't completely deny that this wasn't a demon's doing, but there is no proof that it has anything to do with us. Demons have certain instincts and a school is a perfect target for them."

"That doesn't matter to me," the younger twin stated impatiently. "Even if this demon isn't after us in particular, I want to be the one to take it down. I may not have been able to protect mom, but I'm not letting something like that happen here."

Shaking his head, Vergil crossed his arms, knowing his brother was going to be stubborn on this point. Connoly, however, had to argue. "As headmistress of this school and your guardian, I can not allow that. The school could be dangerous."

Dante simply shrugged and moved toward the door. "You can't make me leave. If something happens to me because of my choice, no one can blame you so I don't see why you're so worried."

Before the distressed woman could respond, the middle half demon had exited the room, not desiring to argue his point anymore. The older woman groaned and rubbed her temples. "You two may go. I'll discuss this matter with you more tomorrow, Vergil. I have other matters to attend to."

The remaining two devils followed Dante's lead and returned to their dorm. There they found Dante perched on the edge of his bed, a long, black case sitting behind him. Nero's eyes widened slightly, knowing what the case held. The youngest half demon had questioned Dante and Vergil, who had a similar case residing under his bed, about them after stumbling upon the mysterious cases while cleaning. Vergil informed him that they held swords their father had given them, but did not elaborate beyond this information.

Vergil narrowed his eyes at his brother. "You truly intend to remain here, don't you?"

"Did I not make that clear enough downstairs?"

With a haughty sniff, Vergil strode over to his own bed and sat down. "Then I'll be staying too." When Dante shot his twin an incredulous look, Vergil added, "I can't let you have all the fun, can I?"

A sound that would have been a laugh had he not been so stressed and worried about the future escaped Dante's lips. "Alright." His gaze wandered to Nero, who was shrugging the sling off his demonic arm once again. "What about you kid? You gonna join in on the fun?"

Ignoring the annoying nickname, Nero stared down at his red and blue arm thoughtfully. "Well, I sure as hell don't want to be alone with some old lady for almost three weeks. But I don't have a weapon or anything like you guys do. Plus, I don't think I know how to use one even if I did."

"We'll figure something out," replied Dante nonchalantly.

Vergil nodded in agreement. "I'll inform Headmistress Connoly about our decisions in the morning. But for now, we should probably stay in here and stay out of the way until tomorrow."

The two younger devils gave their consent to this plan, despite their want to do something. None of them wanted to simply do nothing with the possibility of a demon lurking through the corridors, but they didn't seem to have much of a choice at the moment. It seemed their only option at the moment was to sit and wait.


	9. Chapter 9

Dante leaned against the window of the three half demons' dorm room watching as the last of the students scurried away from the school with their parents or guardians, his breath leaving patches of condensation on the icy glass as he breathed. Snow had begun to drift to earth from the clouds, adding to the overall bleakness of the night before and the day to come. His large broad sword, Rebellion, was held up by the wall next to him just in case a use for the weapon arose.

Early that morning before breakfast, the students of Westbrook had been called to the main hall for a mandatory and extremely important meeting. There, Mrs. Connoly informed them and the staff that the school would be closing for the remainder of the week and at least until the end of the holidays for their safety due to an observation of mold in the school. The woman did not mention the events of the true events night before, and the four witnesses said nothing either, especially since Lily was nowhere to be seen that morning.

Waves of concerned conversation and cheers swept through the crowd at this announcement and no one stuck around to even question the validity of the claim. After the headmistress dismissed the excited students to pack their things (for their parents had already been informed of the situation and would be picking them up through the course of the day), she beckoned Vergil to join her in her office while Dante and Nero retreated to their dorm once more.

The meeting concerning the fate of the teen devils had been a relatively short one: Vergil, begrudingly taking on a more Dantean approach than he would have liked, informed the woman that the three would not be leaving and there really was nothing she could do about it. "Besides, the three of us are much more susceptible to pain and injuries than normal humans," he had added with a slight touch of arrogance in his tone.

With a severe look at this comment and only a few half-hearted arguments, since that was all she could manage at that point, Headmistress Connoly consented to the teens staying to help with the problem, only on the condition that if things became too dangerous or got out of hand, they would seek refuge, no questions asked. Vergil agreed to this term and exited the frazzled woman's office for the library to pick up a few books.

It was now -, and the three half demons had not spoken to each other much, save for a few grunts of acknowledgement or one-worded answers to a question another may have proposed, as they played hermits in their dorm. Dante had secluded himself to the window with Rebellion, feeling too drained, physically and emotionally, to do anything except stare forlornly out into the gloomy landscape outside. Nero planted himself on his bed after the school-wide meeting and hadn't budged since, his mind too clouded by images of that horrid event involving Rina and the guilt that had crept in, convincing him that this whole ordeal was his fault. The eldest of three had chosen a more productive activity for his afternoon. Vergil gathered any book he could scrounge from the library about demons, hoping to possibly find answers and give the inexperienced devils some insight into what they may be dealing with.

The formidible silence was finally broken when Vergil snapped his book shut and announced, "We need a plan of action. It will do us absolutely no good to just charge into this without thinking it through first." He shot his twin a quick glare during the last part. The younger brother just shrugged and pushed his body away from the window, wrapping his hand wround the hilt of his sword, slinging it over is shoulder, and returning to his bunk.

Nero, who had violently snapped out of his reverie at the harsh sound of the book being so forcefully shut, nodded in agreement. "I think that's a good idea." The youngest chewed his lip nervously. "What did you have in mind though?"

Vergil leaned back against his headboard and stared up at the ceiling in thought. "Well, we're going to have to find this thing somehow, and fitting in rest will be difficult, especially since the demon is most likely to be nocturnal." He returned his blue hues back to his audience, who were for once listening intently. "All I can think of is to do this in shifts: one person searches, another rests, and the third guards the dorm...at least at night. During the day, I say we stick together."

"But what if one of us needs help?" chimed Nero, failing at keeping the apprehension out of his voice. He still felt insecure and vulnerable due to the fact he did not at least have a weapon as the other two did or the skill needed to on in the first place.

Suddenly, as if reading the youngest half demon's mind, Dante perked up and crossed the room to Nero's bed. "Your arm."

The fourteen year old stared at the older male with wide, questioning eyes. "W-what?"

"Your arm, kid," Dante repeated, a small grin managing to cross his features. "I bet it could be useful in battle somehow. I mean, it [i]is[/i] a devil arm after all."

Nero silently appealed to the eldest in the room with his blue orbs, hoping he would roll his eyes and tell Dante he was being ridiculous and that was far too risky. However, Vergil's response was the exact opposite of Nero's hopes: "He does have a point, Nero."

Dante's grin was full now. "Of course I do. Now, c'mere." The middle devil beckoned for his younger room mate to follow after wrenching the door open and bounding down the stairs to the corridor below.

Nero sent a last fleeting glance at Vergil, who simply shooed him out of the room with Dante, stating, "If he tries to hurt you or something, just return here." The older twin then buried his nose in one of his books again, signalling that he did not wish to be disturbed anymore.

Without bothering to re-sling his demonic arm since no one else was in the building anyway, Nero sighed and descended the stairs into the silent corridor where Dante awaited his arrival patiently.

The sixteen year old smiled at Nero as he stepped in front of him. "Alright, hit me," he ordered, pointing at Nero's Devil Bringer. "And do it with that glow stick of yours."

Taking a step away from the older male with an incredulous look on his face, Nero shook his head, shouting, "Are you nuts? Why the hell would I hit you?" He instinctively wrapped his human hand around the scaly skin of his demon arm, massaging the sensitive blue flesh.

Dante rolled his eyes, then punched himself lightly in the stomach. "C'mon kid! Right here!" When Nero shook his head again, the elder of the two chuckled softly. "I'm giving you a free shot here and you won't take it? That's just crazy! I know you've wanted to punch me before and here's your chance!"

"Why? So you can hit me back or something? Fuck that." Nero crossed his arms over his chest and rooted himself to the spot stubbornly.

Dante sighed and was about to give up before a bright, but possibly stupid, idea dawned on him. He smirked slightly to himself and said, "Ah well. I guess you're just too chicken to hit me. Though I guess I knew that already."

Nero's light blue eyes narrowed. "I'm not chicken, dumbass. There's just no point to it."

"Oh wait, that's right," Dante sneered, his smirk widening, "it's because you [i]can't[/i] hit me."

Finally feeling fed up with Dante's snide comments, Nero uncrossed his arms, his hands balling into fists at his sides. "Can't hit you huh? Fine, I'll fucking show you I can." That being said, Nero quickly attempted to punch Dante in the face with his human fist. The elder however dodged the blow with ease.

[i]Hook, line, and sinker.[/i]

Dante laughed heartily and held his stomach as if it were painful for him to do so. "Is that all you got kid?"

The younger part human snarled. "I'm not a fucking kid!" In another swift motion, Nero sent his left fist flying for the older male's face once more, only for it to be caught with ease.

"Maybe you should try the other hand?" Dante pointed to the Devil Bringer which was emitting a gradually intensifying glow as Nero's anger flared.

Nero ripped his fist from Dante's hand, absolutely seething. "Fine!" Neither of the demons were expecting what happened next. Nero's deformed fist collided with Dante's abdomen with amazing force, sending him flying backwards into the wall behind him, which had been a sizable distance away. The impact seemed to shake the whole ediface and caused an antique painting to crash down onto Dante's head, breaking the frame.

Both teens were in shock as they stared at each other. Finally, Dante picked himself up and surveyed the damaged wall behind him. He whistled and said, "Damn! That sucker can do some damage! That actually really fucking hurt me too!"

Nero just stared at his room mate, too awe stricken to reply. He had never thought his arm had been capable of that sort of strength. It had always seemed a hindrance in his life. Now, it seemed like it would be helping him more than ever.

Dante re-crossed the hall and clapped a hand on Nero's shoulder. "Well, there you have it. You've had a weapon all along!" He scratched his chin in thought for a second, then added, "And just to be safe, we could always steal one of those swords from those suits of armor."

Before Nero could reply, Vergil appeared at the bottom of the stairs with a scowl on his face. "What are you two doing?"

Dante grinned at his twin. "Testing Nero's glow stick. He can really pack a punch with that thing."

The youngest of the three elbowed Dante in the ribs, swiped at his nose in embarrassment, then shoved passed Vergil and back into the dorm. Vergil shook his head at his sibling's antics. "You are such an idiot sometimes."

"What's wrong with giving him a little confidence to use that arm of his? If you got it, flaunt it."

"Because you're being so obnoxious," Vergil began in his usual cool tone, "you get to start tonight with guard duty and I will be the one scouting for suspicious activity. If you had behaved, I was going to allow you to be first."

Dante scoffed at his brother's words. "Whatever! You had intended to go first all along!"

The elder twin ignored this remark and followed Nero back up to the dorm. Dante growled in annoyance and stamped up the stairs close behind him, intent on bugging the living hell out of Vergil until he allowed him to assume the position of the first scouter of the night.


	10. Chapter 10

Woooow...It has been a long time since I was able to update and I sincerely apologize to those of you following and enjoying this story. Within the last few months, I had been trying to ensure the fact that i would graduate because one class I was taking was making me nervous. Plus with work in the mix, I never seemed to have free time! But I am still sorry for I should have found time .. Anywho, thanks to all those who have been subscribing, favorite, and commenting...and I especially want to thank those of you who are still going to read this even though my last update was ages ago! But you all make Moriah happy, which is a very good thing.

Without further ado, chapter 10 of Devils' High School! I think this is my favorite chapter so far...nice and action-y xD.

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Dante, Vergil, and Nero spent the remaining hours of the day roaming the hallways of Westbrook searching for any sort of clue toward the whereabouts of the demon that had massacred Rina. As the sun began to sink below the horizon, filtering pink and orange light into the hallways through the many windows, the three half demons shuffled back up to their rooms feeling defeated.

"Man, why can't this be like an episode of Scooby-Doo?" Dante grumbled as he flopped down onto the bed, stretching out his limbs. "Why can't there just be some footprints leading to the demon somewhere?"

Nero snorted, following Dante's actions with his own bed. "Maybe because this is real life?" He ignored Dante's half-hearted glare in favor of burying his face into his pillow.

After closing the door, Vergil placed Yamato at his bedside and began pacing in front of the beds, thinking of the best way to accomplish anything on his night-time trek through the corridors. Nothing was making sense to him. If that demon was after them, why didn't it just come up to their room and attack already? If it's in the school, it would be easy enough. Maybe it had other plans?

Vergil finally sat down, deciding stressing over the details would not be in his favor. He had a good four hours of marching through the hallways looking for demon activity before handing it over to Dante. "So you two remember the drill right? You run into anything, do not try to take it on by yourself. We don't know what we're up against, and it will be safer to take whatever it is on together."

Nero simply nodded, head still buried in the pillow and half asleep. Dante rolled his eyes at his older twin. "Yeah, yeah." He sat up quickly, eyeing his brother suspiciously. "That means you have to abide by your own rules, too. I know you won't admit it, but your ego is just as bad as mine."

"Settle down, Dante. I assure you, I don't plan on fighting this demon on my own. I value my life." Vergil returned to his feet as the sky darkened, attaching Yamato to his hip. He turned to face Nero. "Get some sleep Nero. Dante, let's go." Dante stood slowly, grabbing Rebellion and placing it on his back before following his brother down the stairs and into the corridor below.

After hopping down the last few steps, Dante leaned against the wall next to the door. He blew some hair out of his face, already bored. He was not looking forward to playing guard dog for four hours. But, as usual, it was two against one when it came to choosing who did what first. As Vergil turned to begin his search, Dante stopped him. "Hey."

Half annoyed, Vergil glared at his brother. "Yes Dante?"

Dante ignored his brother's annoyance. "Don't get yourself killed, got it?"

Despite the less than eloquent way Dante worded it, Vergil understood what he truly meant by his words. What he was really trying to say was that Vergil was all he had left, and he didn't know what he would do if he lost his twin brother. The elder half devil waved his twin off, striding with purpose toward the end of the hallway and turning the corner.

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As the third hour of Vergil's exploration of the school came to a close and the final hour began, Vergil let out an exasperated groan having neither found or heard anything. The whole building was silent as the grave and completely empty. By this point, the eldest son of Sparda was ready to call it quits. His feet were beginning to ache, and personally, a demon roaming around didn't bother him that much. Yes, he hated how they killed his mother and tore his family asunder, but he was technically one of them. He had demonic powers and sometimes impulses that were definitely not human. It was this part of him that cared less than others would feel was a proper amount.

A thud from down the corridor caused Vergil to snap back to the real world and turn toward the noise. Instinctively, his hand shot to Yamato's hilt as he dashed toward the sound. If his enhanced auditory skills were as good as he thought, the blue devil found himself positioned in front of one of the janitors' closets.

Vergil narrowed his ice blue eyes at the door, popping Yamato out of its sheath slightly with his thumb just in case. With his free hand, he jerked the closet door open, eyes darting around the small space for any sign of demon. Vergil huffed as he slid Yamato back into its sheath when nothing but cleaning supplies and abandoned spider webs met his gaze. He found the source of the noise had been a mop falling over and hitting the floor.

Vergil growled and slammed the door shut with enough force to cause other supplies in the closet to topple over. The false alarm had caused his irritation to rise ten fold, causing him to regret letting Dante's suspicions get to him. There really wasn't sufficient evidence to suggest that the supposed demon that attacked him and Rina's death were related. The fact that absolutely nothing had happened since the latest incident was making him think the two were just freak incidents.

With one last glare at the door, Vergil slunk off down the hallway to finish up his shift. He was honestly ready for his final hour to be up. He felt as if all the worrying he had been doing for the past day had been utterly pointless. What aggravated him even more was the fact that in his mind, worry was a weakness, and anything weak was a waste of space.

As he descended the steps to the main floor, a series of loud bangs and crashes erupted from one of the nearby classrooms. Feeling as if this cacophony had much more promise than the last, Vergil dashed to the place where the sounds were heard. Despite his skepticism, Vergil's heart raced and adrenaline pumped through his body as he came to the closed door of the noisy classroom.

Vergil threw the door open holding Yamato at the ready, eyes scanning the room like a predator stalking some elusive prey. The room was a disaster area: desks were flipped over and thrown against walls, shredded bits of paper floated to the ground like confetti, and splintered wook pieces were scattered about the floor. Other than the wreck that seemed like it could only be produced by a twister, the classroom was completely empty. The eldest half devil sniffed the air, taking advantage of his keen olfactory system. The scent that met his nose, besides the stale ones of his classmates and the teacher normally occupying the room, was one he hadn't smelled since he was a child: demons.

Judging by the fact that the paper hadn't hit the floor when he burst into the room, Vergil deduced that he had barely missed the beast, causing a sly smirk to cross his lips. _It can't be far off..._

Tha banging from before started up again in the room next door, and Vergil's eyes lit up as he sprinted out of the room and threw open the door, Yamato held at the ready. A hunched over, cloaked figure with a scythe was in the process of slicing through a desk when the door smacking the wall caused it to stop and turn toward the partial human. Vergil's eyes became mere slits as the pale gray face with hollow, black holes for eyes and permanantly open mouth met his gaze. This was easily one of the weaker of its kind, and Vergil hated to waste his time on it.

"So you're it? _You're_ the demon causing all the commotion around this school? Tch...how disappointing..." He raised Yamato to his face, examining it and giving the demon a better view of the blade which would be its demise. "Since you're such a pathetic excuse for a demon, I'll make this quick."

A rattling sound erupted from the demon's throat as it lurched toward Vergil, scythe gripped in both hands ready to cleave the son of Sparda in two. Vergil's lips curled into a malicious grin as he flicked Yamato with speed not even his opponent could keep up with. The blue devil slowly slid his prized blade back into its sheath, and as he clicked it into place, the low-class demon's body split in half, the top piece sliding to the ground before the bottom toppled over.

Vergil huffed as he turned and entered the corridor again. "If humans weren't so weak, this whole episode could have been avoided..."

Vergil decided to finish off his shift, figuring there would most likely be more. He smirked to himself, hoping there would be more. He had _finally_ been able to release some of the pent up aggression he could never fully express for fear of revealing the secret of their demon heritage. With these demons he could let his more carnal desires shine through.

Unbeknownst to the proud half devil practically strutting through the halls now, shadows behind him were becoming tangible, large clawed hands creeping toward him, and a pair of red eyes appearing in the center of the mass. Inch by inch, the clawed hand closed the gap between it and its prey. Finally, it shot out and grabbed Vergil by the ankle, causing the teenager to gasp and faceplant onto the stone floor below.

Vergil pushed himself onto his hands and turned his head behind him, attempting to see what sort of idiot had the guts to trip him up, only to be met with the razor sharp claws hurtling toward his face. With demonic agility, Vergil flipped onto his back, yanked Yamato out of its sheath, and knocked the the shadow claw away.

The beast reeled its claw back in, healing the slice Vergil's blade had made. The half devil sprang to his feet, coming face to face with a mass of black that filled the whole hallway. Not even a sliver of moonlight from the windows behind it shone through. Piercing red eyes stared at the half demon menacingly. Undeterred by the monster, Vergil glared back, ready for anything it could throw at him.

The shadow demon shot its claw back out at the blue devil, only to have its attack easily dodged by the son of Sparda. Vergil chuckled. "You're going to have to do better than that." Vergil regained his footing and dashed toward his opponent, expertly side-stepping another futile attempt by the devil to make a slice in his belly. Vergil's eyes became absolutely animalistic as he came within range of the shadow demon. He swung his blade, watching it slice through the devil like butter, creating a horizontal gash through the length of its body.

The injured demon made a pained sound and recoiled a few feet, distancing itself from Vergil. The devil in blue smirked as deep purple blood began to ooze from the demon's wound. With a triumphant cackle, Vergil said, "Now that you've learned your lesson, it's ti-" Vergil's eyes grew wide mid-sentence as a searing pain emerged in his side. He felt a thick liquid begin to trail down his side and watched as that shadowy claw was retracted once more, red blood dripping from one of the talons.

Adding to his surprise, Vergil stared, stunned as the demon's wound healed over quickly, making it seem as if Vergil hadn't done a thing. The partial devil attempted to attack the demon again, only to have his side scream in protest. As his hand shot to the wound, another clawed hand stretched toward him, and he was barely able to parry it off with Yamato.

Reluctantly, Vergil decided there was no way he was going to be able to defeat this demon with his injury and would need time to heal. And, though he wouldn't outright admit it, he was most likely going to need some back up. So, ignoring the pain that tore through his side with every moevement, Vergil began backpedalling, being sure to watch his opponent carefully. He did not need another injury impeding his escape.

After fending off attack after attack from the encroaching devil, Vergil felt his backside meet with the corner of the hallway. His eyes twitched to the right where they met with his refuge: an adjoining hallway. With one last glance at the opposing demon, Vergil propelled himself off the wall and down the demon-free hallway, utilizing the demon speed he had never been more thankful to have.

Without looking back, he mounted the stairs and ascended them two at a time, only daring to look back when he had put the flight of stairs and three corridors between himself and the shadow demon. He heaved a sigh of relief when the squares of light cast by the moon outside the windows met his gaze and slowed to a walk once more. His sense of relief was heightened when he felt his injury begin to knit itself back together.

However, Vergil's calm came at a price. He began to hate himself for being defeated so easily. He was supposed to be powerful like his father, and he was ahsamed of himself for running away. He wanted more power. No, he _needed_ more power. What had happened tonight had fully convinced him of it, and he would rest until he could someday have the power of Sparda to himself.

The demon in blue snarled, balling his hands into tight fists by his sides as he headed back to the dorm to tell the other two what he saw. He had no intentions of divulging all that had happened, though.


	11. Chapter 11

An update in...I think a week! I'm proud of myself, even though this one is kind of boring...I hope it doesn't put all you who have managed to stick with me to sleep .. I apologize in advance if it does. But at least it didn't take me months to update again!

As always, thanks for reading, commenting, and subscribing! All make me happy!

And now for chapter 11 of Devils' High School! :D

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Dante heaved his millionth bored sigh of the night as he leaned against the door frame of the dorm room. His eyes kept wanting to close. On several occasions he had actually considered just sitting on the floor, resting his face against his knees and sleeping. But his stubbornness kept him awake; he knew he wouldn't be able to live with himself if something happened while he was on guard duty.

But the fact that he got to sleep next sounded better and better as each minute ticked by.

To fight off sleep and boredom, Dante had engaged himself with any activity from counting cracks in the walls to carving his name into the floor with Rebellion. All of these were only temporary fixes. In each activity, he would either finish or lose interest within a few minutes. With time moving at a snail's pace, jumping from boring preoccuaption to even more boring preoccupation was wearing on his nerves and causing him to check down the hallway for any sign of Vergil every half minute or so.

The only solace the red-clad devil found from the immense boredom were the occasional noises his demonic hearing picked up. Any sound had made his heart beat faster and adrenaline pump through his veins. It made him almost hope for some unlucky demon to cross his path so he could dice it up like a tomato. A few times Dante heard what sounded like World War II happening in the small space of a classroom. These times really got his blood pumping, but also made him worry. Was Vergil in danger? Should he go find him? Unfortunately, the answer to the latter question could be voiced in two words: hell no. For one, Vergil would _kill_ him for running to the rescue if he didn't need it and probably have an even more massive freak out if he acctually did need assistance. Secondly, his place was here by the door making sure nothing attacked the sleeping Nero upstairs. Again, death would be eminent if he even thought about leaving his post and Nero died or was mutilated beyond recognition.

When the school was quiet once more, Dante let out the pent up breath he had been unaware of holding. He couldn't help but wonder what had gone on...or if Vergil had been involved. No matter how much Vergil annoyed the crap out of him at times, they were still brothers. _Twin_ brothers. Even if the two were polar opposites, losing Vergil would be one of the worst possible things to happen to him. He would never admit anything like that aloud though. He had appearances to keep up.

Dante's eyes immediately shot to the end of the corridor at the sign of movement, his hand gripping Rebellion's hilt instinctively. His grip on the blade slackened when the figure approached. Vergil's expression was the same as always: cold and emotionless. Dante noticed his blue t-shirt was ripped in the side and the smell of blood met Dante's sensitive nose. He stared at his brother, trying not to look too concerned. "What happened to you, Verg? Trip and fall on Yamato?"

As expected, Vergil glared at his twin. "No, Dante, that is not what happened." The elder twin glanced down at his side, relieved to see that it was completely healed. "Now, if you'll wait until I am able to wake Nero, I will tell you what happened."

Without another word, Vergil went up the stairs to the dorm room. Dante rolled his eyes. Vergil should know patience was not his best virtue, especially not after waiting four hours for him to return. The younger of the twins followed his brother up the stairs, closing the door behind him.

"Wake Nero up," Vergil ordered as he pulled off the torn shirt and inspected it. The whole right side of the t-shirt was soaked in blood along with the rip the demon had made. Vergil frowned and tossed the piece of fabric in the trash can since it was a useless article now.

Dante moved over to Nero's bed, finding the youngest half devil sprawled out on his bed in a deep sleep. His arms were spread above his head, and one of his legs was dangling off the edge of the bed. The fourteen year old was snoring lightly and a small amount of drool was trickling out of the corner of his mouth. Dante chuckled at the humorous sight and slapped him on the chest. "Hey, kid. Wake up. Vergil has some juicy news for us."

Nero scrunched his nose in his sleep and swatted the air with his human hand, mumbling something about five more minutes. With a growl, Dante pounced on him and punched him in the face. The youngest devil awoke with a jolt, looking around the room in a disoriented manner. "Sorry kid. But I loost my patience with you," Dante informed his victim with a cheesy grin.

The sound of Dante's voice caused Nero to finally register what had happened and to realize there was blood dripping from his nose and onto his lip. Nero snarled and tackled an unprepared Dante off the bed. "You fucking bastard!"

The youngest hybrid raised his Devil Arm to punch Dante in the face, only to have Vergil catch it just before making contact. "That's enough you two. Believe me, we do not need to be expending energy on beating each other senseless."

The red half devil snickered while Nero shot Vergil a glare. "But that's not fair! He punched me for no reason! It does _not_ take a damn punch to wake someone up!"

Vergil narrowed his eyes at his laughing twin. "Fine. One punch is all you get, Nero. Then you both will listen to me."

Dante stopped laughing in time to see Nero's demonic fist flying toward his face. The force of the punch caused Dante's head to collide with the ground hard. He hissed in pain and grabbed his now bloody nose. "Fuck...okay, okay. We're even now." The red-clad demon shoved Nero off of him and made his way to hos own bed, nursing his new wound.

"Now that you two have stopped being imbeciles," Vergil began bitterly as Nero climbed back on to his bed, "I will tell you what happened while i was on patrol."

The eldest of the three scanned his audience, making sure they were paying attention. Nero had a scowl set of his face, still ticked from Dante's method of waking him, but had his full attention on Vergil. He was surprised to find that his younger twin was actually paying attention as well, most like only to find out how Vergil had managed to get his side sliced. Satisfied enough, Vergil went on. "Now, I found out that we're definitely dealing with more than one demon here. It's probably many lesser demons-"

"Is that what cut your side?" Dante unterrupted, smirking, "'Cause if it was-"

"No, Dante." Vergil sent one of his signature, icy death glares at his twin, immediately shutting him up. "Anyway, I tracked one of the lesser demons to one of the classrooms where it was tearing the room apart almost as if it were searching for something..."

As Vergil trailed off, Nero piped up: "But what could they be looking for? I mean, we're probably all that's of interest here and they could easily just lock on to our scents, right?"

Vergil nodded, having been confused by this as well. "I would think so. But I suppose all in all, it doesn't matter. We have to stop these demons no matter what." The elder of the three partial humans crossed his arms, not wanting to re-live his embarrassment from earlier. "And this brings me to the even larger concern."

If Dante hadn't been paying too much attention before, he was all ears now. The small fries didn't interest him much, for he could slash through them fairly easily he was sure. It was the big baddies he wanted to hear about.

"There's a demon roaming around here that is practically undetectable because I believe it can materilize from shadows. As far as I could tell, it made no sound when it moved and didn't have a scent that I could lock on to." Vergil paused, noticing the flicker of concern flashing through each of the younger hybrids' eyes. "And, to add on to this, it's a stronger demon."

A silence fell over the room when none of the partial demons wanted to voice the tingle of regret each of the felt with their decision to stay. Right now, they could probably enjoying milk and cookies at some old ladies house without a care in the world. They could be far away from the school that was most likely infested with demons that wanted their heads on platters. Basically, they would be safe.

But there was no turning back on their decision now. Whether any of them would admit it or not, they each had their own reason for staying besides the fact that what happened to Rina wasn't right and possibly partly their fault in a roundabout way. Dante wanted revenge for what demons did to their mother and their family as a whole. Vergil saw this as an opportunity to test his true power and learn more about what it meant to be part devil. Nero wanted nothing more out of this venture than to prove to his older room mates that he wasn't just a kid.

"So...what are we gonna do, Verg? Just run at this thing, swords blazing, and kick its ass?" asked Dante, attempting to relieve some of the tension from the room; it was almost suffocating him.

The eldest half demon rolled his eyes at his twin's inane suggestion. "No. That is not what we will be doing. All we can do now is try to learn about our opponent. What it wants, its weak points, what all it can do. It will do us no good to run into this like blind barbarians."

Quickly losing his patience and attention span with this conversation, Dante hung upside down off the end of his bed, grinning cheesily up at his brother. "Well, when you get right down to it, we're probably not far off from barbarians when it come to our sword skills. We only know what little dad could teach us behind mom's back. Hell, Nero here's got no sword experience at all!"

A bright pink blush crept into Nero's cheeks as he swiped his nose in embarrassment. "Shut up, Dante..."

"I agree with Nero," Vergil growled. "Shut up, Dante." When the middle devil didn't raise anymore arguments and simply flipped his brother off, Vergil went on. "For tonight, we'll forget about patrolling. We'll sleep tonight, and tomorrow, you two will search the school like we did today and I'll do research and try to find out about what we're dealing with."

Nero made a sour face at the thought of spending a _whole day_ by himself with Dante. The guy was just insufferable to be around for lengthy periods of time. Hell, sometimes even just a small increment of time with the red devil could drive a man to madness. But, the youngest devil nodded all the same, glancing down at his Devil Arm. He supposed if Dante became too much to bear he could always just punch him in the face a few times with his demonic appendage. And this time, there would be no Vergil around to stop him.

Dante returned to his pillows, smiling like a lunatic. "Awesome. Then I gonna go to sleep. Night." And with that, he closed his eyes and pretended to snore, informing his room mates that this conversation was over.

With an annoyed sigh, Vergil flopped down on his own bed, not in the mood to deal with Dante anymore. Deciding it was useless to attempt reviving the dead conversation, the eldest son of Sparda switched the lamp off, pulled his comforter to his chin, and tried to get some shut eye.


	12. Chapter 12

And here is the next installment of Devils' High School. It's actually the longest chapter I think so far. I'm not sure I'm completely satisfied with the way it turned out as a whole, but I'm not sure how to fix it as of now. So, it may possibly change in the future. No promises though because I can be pretty lazy. xD

But thanks to all my readers, reviewers, subscribers, and even new readers! I love you all! :D

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Morning dawned dreary and cold, sleet falling from the sky and creating a layer of ice on the windows of the school. Dante, Vergil, and Nero had all risen from their fitful slumbers much earlier than any of them had wanted due to the fact that each of them had only been able to sleep for a few hours at most anyway. Plus, with this sort of weather, the school transformed into what would probably resemble the inside of a freezer, making a warm bed a thousand times more inviting than roaming the hallways.

However, the three partial devils knew they had business to take care of, and the quicker they took care of the demons in Westbrook, the faster they would have time to simply relax. This in mind, they rolled out of bed and pulled warm clothes on, readying themselves for the day. They siletnly took up their weapons and traipsed down the stairs into the chilly hallway. The silence between the sleepy teens prevailed as they made their way toward the library, stopping in front of the entrance.

"Now," Vergil began turning to his two younger room mates, "if you find anything interesting, come get me. The same rule applies as last night."

Dante, annoyed with his brother acting so bossy, rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. "So you fighting that thing last night didn't break your little rule?"

The blue-clad devil glared at his twin, knowing this little argument would come up eventually. "I had no choice," he lied, his voice as cool and calm as it always was. "It was blocking my path back." So, maybe it hadn't been. But right now, Vergil wasn't all that keen on telling the truth; he was more concerned with getting his brother to shut up and leave him to his research.

When Dante scoffed and began to retort, Nero elbowed him in the ribs. The youngest half demon was far too exhausted to listen to yet another infamous son of Sparda quarrel. He did _not_ need to start out the day in a crappy mood, especially when he was sure it wouldn't be long before he was in one anyway. "Don't worry, Vergil. We'll come to you if we find anything."

Vergil nodded before quickly disappearing inside the library. Once his brother was gone, Dante sent Nero a pathetic pout. "Man, you're no fun."

Nero swiped his nose in agitation with his Devil Bringer and began walking down the corridor once more. "Well, listening to you and Vergil argue gets pretty damn annoying after a while, and I really didn't want to listen to it this early in the morning."

With a dumbfounded look on his face, Dante stared after the youngest half devil. Throughout the eight years the three had spent together,Dante had never really thought about how annoying all their arguments could be to an outsider. He knew they were damn obnoxious to him most of the time, so he could only imagine what they were like for Nero, simply a witness forced to endure it because they all shared a room.

Dante quickly caught up to Nero, falling into step with the younger male. "Yeah...I guess I should thank you, ki-" At the sight of Nero's scowl, Dante cut him self off. "Nero."

The younger devil just waved him off, not really caring if Dante thanked him or not. He was however impressed that Dante actually used his name rather than the usual, annoying pet name.

As the two sauntered through the hallways in virtual silence save a few small gasps when there was a tiny creak, a thought suddenly occured to Nero. "Isn't it your guys' birthday?"

Dante blinked as the meaning of the question sunk in and nodded. It was true; he and Vergil were now seventeen. He wasn't exactly excited about that, however. If anything, it caused a small amount of sadness to creep in and a frown to settle on his face. Ever since the death of their mother, Dante and Vergil didn't feel like their birthday was that big of a deal. Sure, Headmistress Connoly would give them some sort of gift every year, but it wasn't the same without their parents.

The younger son of Sparda was saved from giving an answer to his companions question when a more prominent clamor than the previous ones caught the two half devils' attention from down the hallway. Dante's frown immediately became a smirk as he led Nero toward the sound, pulling Rebellion off his beck and readying his prized sword for battle.

The duo reached their destination, Nero glancing down at his demonic appendage, which was glowing brighter than usual. When the three had first met, Nero noticed that when Dante and Vergil were around, his arm glowed brighter. They had managed to deduce that this was probably attributed to the twins' demon heritage, basically meaning Nero's arm doubled as a demon radar whose intensity would increase when demons were nearby.

Knowing this, Nero balled his demonic hand into a fist, readying his own borrowed sword as well. "There are definitely demons around."

Dante chuckled. "Thank god. I was getting pretty damn bored."

Just as Dante was about to kick the door open with a dramatic flare only he could feel was necessary, Nero caught of glimpse of movement from further down in his peripheral vision. "Hey, I think I saw something. I'm gonna go check it out," Nero informed his partner as he moved toward his target.

"If you're chickening out, just say so!" the younger devil heard Dante call out to him, just before the loud bang, signalling Dante's violent entrance into the room. Nero just rolled his eyes and cautiously slid around the corner, sword and Devil Bringer at the ready.

The youngest half devil took a few tentative steps down the corridor, being sure to check behind him to avoid any sneak attacks. When he turned his head back, he breifly glimpsed a figure disappearing into a room at the other end of the hallway. Nero scowled and dashed toward the door, pushing it open and slipping inside. After flipping the light switch, Nero found that he was currently in one of the staff break rooms. An empty staff break room.

Nero let out a sigh, half annoyed and half relieved at the fact that the room was empty. "Looks like you're losing it and starting to see things..." he mumbled to himself and relaxing a bit. He placed his blade across his shoulders, scanning the room every student had tried to get into at least once in their school career since it was stocked with comfortable chairs, food, and any kind of drink a kid could possibly want.

"Nero?" A small voice calling his name caused him to freeze, eyes darting around the room for the source. His breath caught in his throat as his eyes rested on a small brunette about his age appearing from behind one of the arm chairs. Her beautiful brown eyes were filled with fear as her fingers fiddled nervously with the bottom of her uniform skirt.

Quickly hiding his Devil Bringer behind his back even though only his hand showed with his hoodie on, Nero finally found his voice. "Kyrie? What are you doing here? It's dangerous. You could get sick because of the mo-"

"I know what really happened here, Nero," the girl practically whispered, biting her bottom lip.

To Nero, she looked as if she was about to divulge some deep dark secret about someone that could change the world or something. He couldn't help himself with egging her on, wondering if she really did know. "You do?"

Kyrie stepped closer to him with a nod. "We weren't sent home early because of mold. It was really because demons killed Rina." The girl shuddered at the thought, her eyes wide with fear.

The partial human's mouth fell open slightly, not sure how Kyrie could know this. Had it somehow gotten out what had happened? He wasn't sure how that could be, but he supposed it was possible. Nero took a step toward the girl, his eyes filled with concern. If there was anyone in this school he felt he had a connection with besides Dante and Vergil, it was easily Kyrie. Unfortunately, anything past friendship was next to impossible because of her older brother Credo and his mutated arm. With Credo's scowling face in his mind's eye, he asked, "Okay then. If you know that, then why are you here? Demons don't really follow the 'don't hit girls' rule."

Kyrie's cheeks became a light pink as she looked down at her shoes. Nero couldn't help but find her shyness adorable even while he should be hunting for demons. "Well, I um...I missed you, Nero."

The girl was now within about half a foot of Nero, causing the boy's cheeks to burn and turn a bright shade of scarlet. "Wh-what?" His voice cracked unintentionally, causing his blush to deepen.

"I missed you," Kyrie repeated, closing the gap between them and loosely wrapping her arms around his neck in a hug. She rested her head on his shoulder, gently tracing circles on his upper back. "I've always really liked you, Nero."

Completely forgetting about his arm and Credo, Nero moved his sword over to his right hand and wrapped his human arm around Kyrie. "I-I really like you too, Kyrie." He couldn't believe this was happening. He had wanted this ever since the two had met when he started formal classes at Westbrook. Dante could suck it now, especially after all the teasing he endured from the older devil to get to this point.

If Nero had been paying attention to his Devil Bringer, he would have noticed that it was currently glowing a bright white.

* * *

Dante sliced through the remaining demon in the classroom, watching it disintegrate into a pile of sand at his feet. There was now no doubt in his mind that his near decapitation and what had happened over the last few days were connected. The three devils he had just slain looked very similar to the one he encountered on the doorstep of Westbrook.

Dante smirked victoriously as he slung Rebellion over his shoulders. "If that's all you demons got, you're sure as hell not going to be hanging around here long." The red-clad son of Sparda gave the room one last visual inspection before strutting out of the now empty classroom. He looked left and right, and upon not finding his partner in crime, chuckled to himself. "Must have run back to Vergil as he wet himself in fear."

Figuring he should probably check the area to make sure, Dante sniffed the air, managing to catch Nero's scent down the hall to the left. "Huh...maybe he's got more balls than I'm giving him credit for..." he mumbled to himself in amusement, following the trail he had found. As he approached his destination, he heard Nero's voice. the older half demon slowed his gait as he approached the door, wondering who the kid could be talking to. He received his answer seconds later when a small, obviously female voice repled to Nero, further confusing Dante.

"I-I really like you too, Kyrie," he heard Nero stutter. Wait...Kyrie? Dante had heard that name before. If he wasn't mistaken, the middle partial human was sure Kyrie was the name of the girl Nero was crushing on. After all, he had heard teh youngster mumbling her name in his sleep more than once. The big question was what the hell was she doing here? She could be killed if she's not careful.

Dante gently pushed the door open, the sight of Nero and the girl embracing meeting his gaze. The scene would have been cute if it hadn't been for the fact that Kyrie's arms were transforming into shadowy tentacles with serrated edges. Without thinking, Dante launched himself forward and wrapped his arms around Nero's waist, pulling him backward and away from the demon.

Upon being pulled back, the sharp points of the tentacles bit into the flesh of Nero's upper back and left deep gashes. The two half devils tumbled backward, landing in a heap against the wall with Nero practically in Dante's lap. The younger of the two immediately hopped to his feet, a feral growl escaping his lips. "What the hell, Dante?" He hissed as he felt the sting of the tears in his flesh. "And what did you do to my back?"

"_I _didn't do shit," Dante informed his partner has he pushed himself back to his feet. "You're little girlfriend did that with her killer octo arms."

Nero glanced back at Kyrie, who did not by any means have "killer octo arms" as Dante so eloquently put it and looked scared to death, then rolled his eyes at Dante. "Wow, I thought I'd never see the day when Dante was jealous."

Well, it was safe to say the kid was delusional because jealous was something he was not. If that doppleganger had actually been the girl in question, Kyrie was way too prissy for him in the first place. Without a word, Dante stepped forward and grabbed Nero's Devil Bringer, holding it up to his face. He then pushed the sleeve of the youngster's hoodie up to give him a better view of the appendage. "Check it out. Your glow stick would be screaming 'demon' right now if it had a mouth."

Startled at first, Nero gasped and flailed in an attempt get away when Dante flashed his demonic arm to Kyrie. But when he saw what the older hald devil was talking about his jaw dropped, and his cheeks reddened for about the hundreth time in one morning. He couldn't believe he didn't notice his arm glowing; that he couldn't _smell_ the scent of demon in the room. He could have punched himself for being so stupid. His aggravation with himself dwindled as his heart sank. "So...Kyrie's a demon?"

Dante couldn't help but laugh softly. "Not quite. That's not really the girl you've been wanting to bang."

"He's right, you know," a new voice that stated, causing both teens to whip their heads back around to "Kyrie." The two could only gawk as her arms transformed into the black, whip-like appendages Dante had seen, another pair sprouting from the girl's sides. The demon grinned maliciously, showing off a new set of sharp, predatorial teeth. "I knew this little brat would be perfect bait for you, son of Sparda."

Without warning, the serrated tentacles whipped out toward them, Dante and Nero barely managing to dodge in time. Their reprieve was short lived however, for they immediately had to duck as the beast swung her tentacles back toward them. The Kyrie imposter reeled the shadowy appendages back in, a scowl set on her face. It was apparent to Dante and Nero she had expected to take them out with ease.

"So, you're a little faster than I expected..." she hissed, as she began changing not only her arms but her whole body. "No matter. I _will _dispose of you pests!" The demons original choice of body began to morph, the second set of tentacles sinking back into the body as the demon began growing in size. The once pretty face sprouted a snout similar to a dragon's, dark red scales beginning to cover the entire any visible skin. "Kyrie's" dainty arms and legs became ten times their size with pure muscle, large talons popping out of fingers and toes to complete the deal. the finished product was at least eight feet tall with a physique that would put any body builder to shame.

The demon inhaled deeply then exhaled, flames spurting from its nose. "Well, son of Sparda and child," the demon growled, its voice much deeper than before, "any last words before I rip you apart?"

"Just a couple," Dante said with a smirk that caused Nero's stomach to churn. The younger half devil knew Dante was going to taunt the demon, in turn aggravating it more. With a small sigh, Nero prepared to defend himself.

Dante readied his blade as well, the same smirk still tugging at his lips. "For one, if you were going for a good looking body, you should have stuck with the last one. It was much less of an eyesore." The elder part human took a step toward his adversary as the demon growled lowly. "And secondly, we're not the ones that are going to be ripped apart."

Before the the beast could respond, Dante sprang forward with demonic speed, leaping over his opponet's arms as it swiped at him, slashing through the flesh of the demon's chest. The demon howled in rage and pain, eyes glowing red as it attempted another attack on the red-clad teen. Despite Dante's efforts to avoid the shar talons, the large demon was able to nick his left bicep.

As blood began to trickle down his arm, Dante hopped back to Nero's side. "So, he's got some bite after all..." He glanced over at Nero who looked as if he'd just been slapped in the face with a fish. Dante chuckled, slapping him on the back, nearly making the younger fall forward. "Well, are you gonna stare at it or attack?"

Nero glared at Dante. "Of course. But unlike you, I'm trying to come up with a plan of action."

Dante snorted. "Yeah. Right. Whatever you say, kid." The two were interrupted by a surge of flames from the demon's mouth caused them to scatter before being burnt to crisps. Dante whistled in mock awe before glancing over at Nero again. "What do you say we take off this thing's head? That should kill it quick enough."

Nero's lips curled into a smirk that resembled Dante's to a T, his devil side liking that idea quite a bit. "Sounds good to me."

The two half demons jumped into action, each launching themselves toward the demon from both sides. Dante dropped to the floor as the demon's large hand descended upon him once more, sliding on the tiled floor. As he slid past the demon's leg, Dante swung Rebellion, taking a considerble chunk out of the monster's calf. Dante regained his feet in time to see Nero being hoisted into the air by his ankle. "Nero!" he shouted, actually afraid for the younger teen's well-being.

With a growl, Nero scowled at the devil that was currently handling him like a rag doll. "Shut up, Dante!" he yelled in frustration. It pissed him off that Dante had already counted him as a dead man. Wanting to be released, Nero swiftly pulled himself up and sliced cleanly through the demon's wrist. Nero fall to the floor with a thud and hissed as his back came into contact with the hard ground. Recovering quickly, he tore the demon's clawed hand from his ankle and hopped to his feet again.

The beast screeched as blood spouted from the now useless stub. Taking advantage of the demon's distraction, Dante launched himself into the air again, his demon heritage allowing him to jump to the height of the demon's head. The demon didn't even have time to turn its head before Dante plunged Rebellion into its neck. Gagging sounds were all that emitted from the dragon-like mouth as its unsevered hand clumsily reached for the blade, desperately trying to dislodge it but too weak to actually do so. Dante, who was still hanging from the sword, braced his feet against the demon's chest and yanked Rebellion from the scaly hide, causing the dying devil to fall backward.

Panting, the half demon duo cautiously approached their now limp adversary. "Is...is it dead?" Nero asked, nudging its face with his foot.

Dante wiped some of the demon's blood that had managed to spray from its wound off of his face, planting Rebellion in the floor and leaning on the hilt. "I think so." Once he had caught his breath again, Dante placed Rebellion back on his back, smirking at Nero. "Next time you run off without me, think with your head, not your dick."

Nero growled and punched Dante in the shoulder with his Devil Bringer, a blush once again tinting his cheeks a pretty pink. "You're one to talk, asshole!" As the older teen burst into laughter, Nero huffed and headed for the door. "Let's just get out of here. We should probably tell Vergil what happened."

Once Dante's laughing fit was reduced to mere chuckles, he called after the young punk: "Wait up, kid! You wouldn't want to run into a demon chick with actual breasts! You wouldn't last a second before she seduced you and kicked your ass!" Satisfied with Nero's threat to cut his vocal chords out if he doesn't shut the hell up, Dante followed after him, a grin on his face.

* * *

Alright, so as I said not completely happy with it, but I think it's decent enough. I hope the action was action-y enough xD. That's probably the part I'm most concerned about...And sorry if that little scene with Nero and "Kyrie" was extremely corny. But you know...in this they're only 14 and that's how (at least when i was 14) most kids would act when confronted by their crush. xD


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